President Donald Trump suggested this week that he may put Ted Cruz on the Supreme Court. It was not meant as a compliment, as he explained how it would be easy to get the Texas senator confirmed.
“The Democrats will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out and the Republicans will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out, too,” Trump said at a press conference attended by Cruz and many other GOP lawmakers.
The remark was probably meant to needle Cruz. Axios reported over the weekend that the senator attacked the president and vice president in comments to donors. Cruz is building himself up for another presidential run that will pit him against J.D. Vance.
It’s expected he would set himself apart from his primary foe. But Trump is another matter. He’s the undisputed leader of the Republican Party and will remain beloved by the base in the next election. It’s a risky move for any GOP hopeful to position himself as anti-Trump. It’s expected that nearly all primary challengers will try to claim that they are the true successor to the Don in ’28. But Cruz could be charting another path in his bid to present himself as the only candidate who can restore the GOP to its pre-MAGA state.
And that means telling donors how much he hates Trump’s policies.
Cruz’s presidential ambitions are nothing new. He’s been laying the groundwork for a campaign since last year. To make himself look like the next GOP leader, Cruz has made Tucker Carlson his number one enemy. Vance’s friend serves as a convenient way to assail the VP and denounce his non-interventionism. He made this clear in his comments reported by Axios: “Tucker created J.D. J.D. is Tucker’s protégé, and they are one and the same,” he told donors. It’s rare for Cruz to make a public appearance without condemning Carlson and anti-Israeli sentiment within the party. It’s obvious Cruz wants to fight for the old guard’s neoconservative foreign policy and despises the America First orientation of the New Right.
But this isn’t his only qualm with Trumpism. He seems to want to bring back every aspect of the Paul Ryan era that Trump defenestrated.
His anti-Trump comments to donors were centered on trade and tariffs. He said that he confronted the president about the matter in the White House, telling the commander-in-chief that his trade moves would destroy Republicans at the ballot box. “You’re going to lose the House, you’re going to lose the Senate, you’re going to spend the next two years being impeached every single week,” Cruz allegedly told Trump. Trump’s alleged response: “F**k you, Ted.”
Cruz added to donors that he would fire any staffer who echoed Trump’s comments on tariffs. “That is not language we use,” he proclaimed.
That’s not the only Trumpian language Cruz disagrees with. In a recent podcast, he bemoaned the White House’s rhetoric about leftists who were killed interfering with immigration enforcement, saying the admin needs to tone down its rhetoric. While saying the shooting of Renee Good was justified, he emphasized that “escalating the rhetoric doesn’t help, and it actually loses credibility.” He argued that “everyone who has anything resembling a conscience is horrified by what’s happening in Minneapolis” and claimed both sides are at fault.
“On one side, they view every shooting as an absolute tragedy, as evidence that America has become Nazi Germany,” he said. “On the other side, you see some people that seem pretty eager to celebrate a violent and lethal confrontation with law enforcement.”
The senator warned that Trump’s strong rhetoric would alienate suburban voters, particularly women.
Cruz didn’t directly criticize the ICE raids, and he made sure to praise the president’s immigration record. But the comments were highlighted by the media as an example of Republican lawmakers’ growing skittishness around the president’s immigration policies. The senator would endear himself to many GOP donors if he did turn on the raids. Corporate interests have lobbied Trump to ease off deportations. Cruz could try to seek their support by publicly sharing their opinion in the next presidential race.
It’s clear that Cruz’s problem with Trumpism isn’t just about Israel and foreign policy; it’s with the entire package. His 2028 bid will be an obvious attempt to restore the old guard and cast out the America First tendencies of the New Right. The Chamber of Commerce and other Business First donors will love this, but it may struggle to win actual primary voters. It will also pit Cruz against the leader of the Republican Party.
GOP voters overwhelmingly approve of Trump. The latest YouGov poll has 85 percent of Republicans approving the president’s job performance. It’s highly unlikely that these voters will suddenly turn on Trump by 2028. They’ve stuck with Trump ever since the 2016 primary, through controversies, impeachments, and indictments. Ron DeSantis and other 2024 candidates bet that the base would turn on Trump in the last election. They proved grievously mistaken, and the 45th president easily won the primary.
Trump won’t be on the ballot in 2028, but he will still weigh heavily on the primary. It would be stupid for any candidate to follow in the footsteps of DeSantis and Nikki Haley and present themselves as the anti-Trump candidate. It will draw the wrath of the president and primary voters. But Cruz may be forced to do so to set himself apart from Vance and earn the support of the donor class that wants the return of the old GOP.
It won’t be a smart move with actual voters, but it will bring in a lot of money.
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