Is the detente between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump about to come to an end?
More than almost any other Republican presidential candidate, Cruz has been reluctant to criticize Trump. The Texas senator wants to be a uniter of conservative primary voters, not a divider, and hopes to win over Trump’s supporters.
Trump has rewarded Cruz by witholding the kind of verbal jabs he routinely throws at most of the rest of the GOP field. The billionaire has called Cruz “a nice guy.”
But now that Cruz leads Trump in Iowa — and maybe California?— a showdown seems inevitable. Perhaps it has come in the form of Trump going birther on Cruz in an interview. Cruz was born in Calgary in 1970, a fact that Trump said would put Republicans in a “very precarious” position if he was the nominee.
Cruz shot back with a video of a 1977 “Happy Days” episode in which Fonzie jumped the shark. “Jumping the shark” has since become a cliche to describe when something begins its decline, like a once-popular television show.
On the surface, that’s a pretty tame rejoinder. Cruz is also known for his pop culture tastes and quirky sense of humor. But when you think about it, Cruz is comparing Trump to a TV show that has peaked and is now doing something outrageous to win back viewers.
In other words, Cruz is subtly calling into question the central rationale of Trump’s campaign: that he is a winner. Instead Trump was a winner, before he jumped the shark. He is a failing candidate trying to win back voters, like a TV show trying to stave off cancellation.
Back when Cruz seemed like less of a threat and they were rallying together against the Iran deal, Trump expressed confidence that Cruz was constitutionally eligible to be president. Now Trump, who was a hero of sorts to those who refused to believe President Obama was born in the United States, has reversed course.
Most legal experts believe anyone who was born a citizen without having to go through a naturalization process qualifies as “natural born,” but birthers argue that the courts have never ruled definitively on the issue and the Framers declined an opportunity to include less ambiguous language in the Constitution.
But the controversy could signal that the gloves are about to come off between Trump and Cruz, at a time when the Republican presidential race is increasingly becoming a war of all against all.
