Recently, in Trump news, we have heard about how he has forfeited his place on the debate stage, joked about testing the loyalty of his followers by shooting someone and been endorsed by none other than the original far-right nonsense factory, Sarah Palin. He has accrued a genuinely hilarious slew of endorsements, actually. Rounding out the pack are none other than Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, everyone’s favorite crazed foreign leaders.
Since his announcement in June 2015, Trump has been a non-stop generator of easy jokes for late-night comedy shows and much bewilderment on the part of his fellow candidates and the Americans not voting for him.
Most people are in agreement that Trump should not be president. But as the primaries loom and people dread his nomination, which seems inevitable to some at this point, I think it’s worthwhile to remind the American people that there are definitely worse options.
Take the not-quite-frontrunner, Ted Cruz.
If, somehow, we had a general election tomorrow between Trump and Cruz, I would vote Trump faster than you could point out that I’d be doing so in tandem with America’s elderly racists.
Cruz, who has been described by SNL as the candidate most voters would like to throw a beer at, is universally disliked by everyone from Congress to his old college roommate. For a good reason. Regardless of what he’s actually saying, he comes off as rude, slimy and condescending, which are qualities we don’t want in a top diplomat.
Now Trump, who is arrogant, impulsive and blustering, might not be a much better choice on the surface. However, he at least is not blustering when he cites his own business experience and mastery of the Art of the Deal, which might help him in diplomacy in a way that Ted Cruz’s famed debating skills might not.
For any liberals or moderates considering the two and threatening to move to Canada should Trump become president, think about Cruz’ extreme conservatism and consider whether you wouldn’t prefer Trump’s occasionally liberal views. For better or for worse, Trump has certain issues he just doesn’t care about and others he’s downright reasonable on. His right-wing-nut views get play with the media because he makes them attractively insane, but they by no means constitute his entire repertoire of opinions.
And if Trump looks more racist, it may only be that Cruz prefers to quietly piggyback off the controversy the Donald produces rather than make his own.
Furthermore, consider this: Trump's most off-the-border-wall ideas will never come to pass. Cruz’ bloodthirsty approach to foreign policy, on the other hand, is not so sure to fail.
When faced with a choice between a rich jerk who can’t keep his mouth shut and as John Boehner put it, a "jack---" with extremist views on every issue he has been lucky enough to trip over on his way to a presidential campaign, I can only hope that Republican primary voters jump on the campaign bus for Jerk 2016.