“A leading Satanist group is trying to distance itself from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) after the presidential candidate was compared to Lucifer this week.”
This is your lede of the week.
This is also your Republican Party.
Texas junior
The Ted Cruz Show (Speaking of the House)
True, these are nine paragraphs from Steve Benen, but they’re short, and worth the moment for reading:
In September 2013, just eight months into his congressional career, Cruz strategized with House Republicans privately. GOP lawmakers shut down the government a few days later.
In October 2013, Cruz met again with House Republicans about their shutdown gambit.
In April 2014, Cruz hosted a chat with House Republicans about strategy on immigration reform. A bipartisan reform bill died in the chamber soon after.
In June 2014, on the same day as the election of the current House GOP leadership team, Cruz met again with a group of House Republicans.
In July 2014, Cruz huddled with House Republicans, who took his advice, ignored their party’s leadership, and derailed a GOP border bill.
A week later, also in July 2014, they met again, this time as members were getting ready for their August break.
In December 2014, with Congress facing a funding deadline, Cruz huddled again with House Republicans.
In September 2015, Cruz met privately with a group of House Republicans once more as the party weighed another government-shutdown plan.
And today, with House Republicans poised to choose a new Speaker, there’s Ted Cruz hanging out with House Republicans.
The Tortilla Coast Junta would appear to be in effect.
Stay tuned.
____________________
Image note: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, prepares to address the Faith & Freedom Coalition Road to Majority conference which featured speeches by conservative politicians at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, June 18, 2015. (Photo: Tom Williams/GQ Roll Call/Getty)
Benen, Steve. “Cruz huddles with House Republicans on eve of Speaker vote”. msnbc. 7 October 2015.
The Ted Cruz Show (Deeply Invested)
Ladies and gentlemen, this is The Ted Cruz Show:
Sen. Ted Cruz said Sunday that doing everything possible to thwart the Iran deal should include states exploring imposing their own sanctions.
The Republican presidential candidate from Texas was asked at a raucous town hall-style forum here about the prospects of states taking action to impose sanctions on the money the Obama administration has agreed to release as part of the deal regarding the country’s nuclear development.
“I think that states should act and lead to do exactly that,” Cruz said.
You may, of course, proceed to laugh yourself to emergency surgery if you are so inclined, but the Texas junior isn’t done yet, as Niels Lesniewski makes clear for Roll Call. Mr. Cruz recalled an occasion when, as solicitor general, he rebuffed an attempt by President George W. Bush to force Texas to apply the authority of the International Criminal Court. 
Without drawing any connection to his proposition that states conduct geopolitics, Cruz reminded, “The court further concluded that no president, Republican of Democrat, has the constitutional authority to give up U.S. Sovereignty. So I think states ought to go down that road.”
We might suggest to wonder what that actually means, but such a question also demands wondering if we might ever find out. Ted Cruz is deeply invested in nonsense.
____________________
Lesniewski, Niels. “Ted Cruz to States: Impose Your Own Iran Sanctions”. Roll Call. 9 August 2015.
The Ted Cruz Show (April’s Fool)
Because the day ends in -y:
When Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz became the first politician to officially announce his presidential campaign last week, he repeated a familiar mantra to his audience at Virginia’s Liberty University.
“Instead of a federal government that seeks to dictate school curriculum through Common Core, imagine repealing every word of Common Core,” the Texas politician said to roaring applause.
The only problem? The Common Core State Standards are not enshrined in any federal law, and therefore cannot be repealed.
(Klein)
We might pause for a moment to consider the Texas junior in the context of Republicans and government. After all, if the purpose of government in Republican hands is to repeal laws that don’t exist, there might be a reason government in Republican hands just doesn’t work.
____________________
Klein, Rebecca. “Watch Ted Cruz Repeatedly Say He Wants To Repeal Something That’s Not A Federal Law”. The Huffington Post. 1 April 2015.
This Is 