Ted Cruz vs Donald Trump

I’m a huge fan of what Donald is doing to the public debate, yet I have no idea how he would lead as a Republican President.

On the other side is Ted Cruz, who I believe would probably be an excellent conservative President, but who is less adroit at molding our public debate. Here is Ted in the hearing on illegal immigration and crime:

One particularly interesting back-and-forth occurred when ICE Director Saldana disputed Cruz’s assertion that the Obama administration released 104,000 “criminal illegal aliens.”

“When I asked you how many criminals ICE released in 2013, you were off by a factor of three,” Cruz said. “You said 30,000 — the correct answer is 104,000…”

“But you’re omitting the 68,000 criminal illegal aliens that ICE did not begin deportation proceedings against at all,” Cruz shot back. “You’ve got to add both of those together — it’s over 100,000.”

Saldana then admitted, “Yes sir, that’s absolutely right…”

“There are too many politicians in Washington that talk a good game but don’t act. If you want to honor Josh [Wilkerson], if you want to honor Kate Steinle, start enforcing the law and stop releasing murderers, and rapists, and drunk drivers. I don’t want to hear from the Obama Administration they’re sorry while they continue to do the exact same thing because what we know – more people will be murdered, more people will be raped, more people will be killed by drunk drivers because this Administration refuses to enforce the law. That is wrong. No man is above the law, and that includes President Obama.” Sen. Cruz said.

Put Ted in a seat of power, and he is an ass-kicking machine. Yet, you never heard any of that on the news. Indeed, the reason the hearing got as much press as it did was Donald Trump’s ability to rivet eyeballs.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Laura Wilkerson, whose 18-year-old son Josh Wilkerson was killed near Houston in 2010, urged Congress to “do something.”

“Quit sitting silently because it’s going to help you get a vote,” she said. “I thank you, Mr. Trump, for getting the message out.”

There is enormous anger at what is going on in this country, just waiting to be kindled.

Liberals have won a string of victories on gay marriage and health care reform this year, but a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds a large majority of Americans are unhappy with where the nation is headed on social issues.

Sixty-three percent of people say they are uncomfortable with the country’s overall direction on social issues these days; four in ten feel “strongly” uncomfortable about the nation’s changes.

The downbeat results in the aftermath of a series of landmark Supreme Court rulings earlier this summer runs parallel to how people see the nation’s overall direction—65 percent say it’s on the wrong track in the survey—and both these views are colored by partisanship and views of President Obama. Over 8 in 10 of both Republicans and those who disapprove of President Obama say they are uncomfortable about the nation’s shifts on social issues.

It is not enough in these trying times to be merely a good legislator or executive. We need a leader, who can rally the conservative grassroots and motivate them to act. The biggest problem we face is not bad governance – it is a failure of the good within our citizenry to keep the rest in check. Correcting that will not come through any law – it will come through a leader who can motivate the populace.

If Trump stumbles, Ted will be our last chance. He will need to ruminate on Reagan, hire Bill Whittle and Dennis Miler, and introduce an aggressive, confrontational stimuli through Alpha-esque cocky/funny ridicule and humor.