Ted
Cruz by J.
Parnell McCarter
Date: 03/07/16
I have guessed since June
2015 that Trump would win the Republican nomination and then the presidency,
and I have guessed since early Fall 2015 that Cruz would be his VP running
mate. I remain convinced that such is
the most likely scenario. This scenario
could happen in one of two ways:
1. Trump selects Cruz as
his VP running-mate as a way to help unify the Republican Party, even though
Trump does not have to do so to win the Republican nomination
2. Trump has to select
Cruz as his VP running-mate in order for himself to get a majority of the
delegates to win the Republican nomination
I believe Ted Cruz would
like the VP slot because of what he could make out of it, beyond any
predecessor, especially any recent predecessor.
First, I think Cruz may well seek to use his VP role as President of the
US Senate to its maximum extent, as actual presiding officer of the Senate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_Senate#United_States). He has the guts to do with it what
predecessors have not, not caring what his fellow Senators think. Second, I think he would seek to keep his
current Senate seat representing Texas (see http://www.pointoforder.com/2008/12/20/can-joe-biden-be-vice-president-and-senator-at-the-same-time/
for a brief article on how this is possible).
Combined, this would give him at least one vote on every issue before
the Senate, and two votes in cases of a Senate split (which is highly possible,
since the Senate may well become around 50-50 Republican-Democrat). Given that
Ted Cruz is one of the shrewdest men in Washington, DC, as presiding officer of
the US Senate he could wield significant power, especially in the realm of
foreign affairs and judicial nominations.
In reality, Ted Cruz may
not be constitutionally qualified to be President of the US, since he is
arguably not a natural born US citizen, but he is unquestionably
constitutionally qualified to be "President of the US Senate". In that capacity, he would have a lot of
ability to checkmate Donald Trump in foreign and domestic policy wherever Trump
became too "flexible", such as in nominations to the US Supreme
Court. This would make true
conservatives happy, and make them want to go out and vote for a Trump-Cruz
Republican ticket. Also, he may be able to make sure that Supreme Court
nominees during Trump’s term do believe he would be qualified to serve as US
President (despite his birth in Canada), so that he might run and take office
as US President after a Trump term.
Ted Cruz might savor
such an unconventional path. And he may
well serve as a good check on what Donald Trump could do as President.