Ted Cruz has had enough. We've traveled quite a distance from "Donald Trump is terrific." Come for the furious line quoted in the headline, stay for Cruz's extended riff about Trump's problem with strong women -- replete with a comment about how scared the celebrity billionaire is of Fox News host Megyn Kelly. Scorching:
Some media figures are handwringing about this unseemly "back and forth," as if there's some moral equivalence between the two candidates' actions. To recap, a Cruz-unaffiliated outside group ran social media ads featuring a salacious photo of Donald Trump's wife. An upset Trump wrongly attributed the ad to Cruz, retaliating by threatening to "spill the beans" on Cruz's wife, which some have speculated is a classless reference to this story. For his part, Cruz disavowed the ad as "completely inappropriate" and called Trump's wife "lovely." That's when the GOP frontrunner retweeted an image ridiculing Mrs. Cruz's physical appearance, eliciting an online rebuke from the Texas Senator. Cruz's "sniveling coward" line came this afternoon, when reporters pressed him on the controversy. He doesn't get mad easily, he said, but targeting his wife and children does the trick. Trump endorser Ben Carson -- whom Trump repeatedly compared to a child molester in Iowa -- defended the billionaire's conduct, shrugging that Trump was "just doing what has become popular." Courage. For their part, here's the Trump campaign's official response:
Trump campaign's @CLewandowski_ reacts to Cruz - "This is his effort to gain attention to try and stay relevant in a race that he has lost."
— John Santucci (@JTSantucci) March 24, 2016
First of all, what a stunner that Corey Lewandowski isn't bothered by his boss' mishandling of a woman. Secondly, this a neat trick: (a) publicly threaten and insult your opponent's wife; (b) dismiss your opponent as a publicity-seeking loser when he responds. Finally, unless Lewandowski is unaware of several hundred bound delegates nobody has heard about, this race isn't over. I'll leave you with this. Can't imagine why:
Poll: Nearly half of Republican women wouldn't vote for Trump https://t.co/qlpXi54HtX
— David Freddoso (@freddoso) March 24, 2016
Oh, and by the way:
Re: "this won't work!" tweets on Cruz ripping Trump. Maybe, but irrelevant. Defending your wife vs. a bully is just the right thing to do.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 24, 2016