Conservative Review - Cruz Interview Exclusive: A Time for Truth

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By Jeffrey Lord

The Supreme Court "looks down on the rest of the country" Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Conservative Review in an exclusive interview this week.

The Senator, hard charging on the presidential campaign trail, has just written a decidedly revealing book on the real insides of Washington politics, the book titled A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America.

Cruz is not about to be stampeded, either -- by the Supreme Court or for that matter anyone else in what he calls the "Washington Cartel." And Cruz, who once clerked in the Supreme Court for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, pointedly includes the Supreme Court in that Washington Cartel.

I mentioned to the Senator Abraham Lincoln's speech on the Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision, in which the Court -- under the sway of pro-slavery Justices -- tried to write slavery into the Constitution. Cruz was instantly familiar with Lincoln's June 26, 1857 speech in which the rising Illinois lawyer scorched the Court for its decision. Lincoln had once revered the Court, but pronounced the decision "erroneous" and indicated he would not "resist" it -- but was determined to overturn it. Which, suffice to say, he did.

Cruz added pointedly that in distinct contrast with Lincoln he found the "saddest" part of the whole episode the "seeming GOP surrender to the Court" with the GOP "repeating Obama talking points."

Said Lincoln biographer of Lincoln and the Court's decision:

"So blatant was the Chief Justice's misreading of the law, so gross was his distortion of the documents fundamental to American liberty [meaning the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution], that Lincoln's faith in an impartial, rational judiciary was shaken; never again did he give deference to the rulings of the Supreme Court."

Cruz has taken a page from Lincoln, writing in National Review that the decision (and the other decision on Obamacare) was "lawless" that put "liberty in the balance."

In our conversation, Cruz called attention to the blistering dissent of Justice Antonin Scalia, the Senator zeroing in on this last Scalia paragraph:

"Hubris is sometimes defined as o'erweening pride; and pride, we know, goeth before a fall. The Judiciary is the "least dangerous" of the federal branches because it has "neither Force nor Will, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm" and the States, "even for the efficacy of its judgments."26 With each decision of ours that takes from the People a question properly left to them--with each decision that is unabashedly based not on law, but on the "reasoned judgment" of a bare majority of this Court--we move one step closer to being reminded of our impotence."

The Texas Senator told me he found that final Scalia thought "striking" and that it "all but called for civil disobedience" not unlike Lincoln's reaction to Dred Scott. Cruz added pointedly that in distinct contrast with Lincoln he found the "saddest" part of the whole episode the "seeming GOP surrender to the Court" with the GOP "repeating Obama talking points."

On the "Washington Cartel"

Cruz was happy to talk, and in a week filled with news of Supreme Court decisions and the presidential campaign trail there was no lack of things to talk about. Days before he had delivered a major speech at the Heritage Foundation on "the people versus the Washington Cartel." In which he attacked "Washington's cronyism," saying "Washington's solutions invariably help the rich and the well connected."

In our conversation he defended the filibuster, calling the 60-vote threshold in the Senate -- a bane to the existence of Republicans who control the body but with only 54 votes -- as a necessary "bulwark." He noted that Democrats were indeed "obstructionists" -- but said he very much believes the 60-vote threshold serves exactly the intention of the Founders when they created the Senate, citing George Washington's words of wisdom to Thomas Jefferson that the Senate should serve as a "saucer" to cool the passions of the House of Representatives, the latter whose members are elected every two years.

In discussing the shape of a Cruz presidency, the Texan was adamant that new leadership was needed in Washington. He was unhesitating in saying what many conservative critics Outside the Beltway have been saying -- that "the GOP leadership in both Houses does the bidding of lobbyists." "We need leadership that listens to people and honors its commitments," he added pointedly.

This latter point is a major focus in his new book. The introduction chapter of the book is titled "Mendacity," with Cruz telling a hair-raising tale of willful, deliberate deceit by his fellow GOP senators as they discussed how to handle raising the debt ceiling during a 2014 Senate Republican lunch. Cruz begins this way:

"Pandemonium ensued. There were angry glares, heated accusations. Red-faced name-calling echoed off the walls and vaulted ceilings in a room just off the main corridor of the U.S. Capitol…Typically the party lunches were civil discussions - somewhat plodding, and occasionally instructive. On this day, however, civility was not on the menu."

Why?

"The issue at hand was the federal debt ceiling." GOP senators had repeatedly promised their constituents that when this moment arrived they would, in Cruz's words, "demand meaningful spending reforms from this president." Now? Now, the moment was at hand -- and most of the GOP senators were set to abandon their promise.

When I made my case to my colleagues, they looked at me like I was a fool. I heard more than one variation of "That's what you say to folks back home. You don't actually do it.

This moment came only months after Cruz had famously led a lonely fight to defund Obamacare in the early fall of 2013. He notes in his book that he and others (the few others) who were leading that fight "had been told by these wizened D.C. leaders, that we had picked the wrong fight; the real fight should be over the debt ceiling." Now? Now that moment had arrived -- and the Senate GOP Leadership was demanding that its members -- Cruz included -- simply cave. They wanted no fight. They would not support spending reforms. Instead the Senate GOP Leadership --with the support of most of its conference members -- was planning a sleight-of-hand in which the number of votes needed to pass the bill would be lowered from 60 votes to 50. Once that was done, the entire Senate GOP Conference could vote against the "clean" debt ceiling bill to give the appearance that they were protesting the lack of spending reforms. All while knowing that they had deliberately given Obama a pass on the bill and that they had no intention of demanding spending reforms.

"I was stunned by the chicanery, expressed openly, if not proudly, to the rest of us" in the conference by the Senate GOP leaders, Cruz said, aghast. As is his habit, Cruz spoke up. "There's no universe in which I can consent to that," he said, adding, "I think it would be dishonest and unfaithful to the voters who elected me."

Tellingly, he writes of the response he received. "When I made my case to my colleagues, they looked at me like I was a fool. I heard more than one variation of "That's what you say to folks back home. You don't actually do it."

And right there is the problem that the conservative base of the GOP has long since come to believe is the core problem with the Washington Republican establishment. The issues come and go. Defunding Obamacare. Raising the debt ceiling. Challenging a Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. Whatever. The intent is to manage the policies set by the left, never to challenge them -- much less defeat them. Said Cruz to CR: The GOP establishment is "listening to lobbyists. There is a reason why Wall Street says they would be happy with either Bush or Clinton."

Cruz's "Truth tellers"

Indeed, Cruz makes a point of discussing "truth tellers" at the beginning of each chapter in the book. The tale of Barry Goldwater telling a Watergate-tarred President Richard Nixon that he, Nixon, would have to resign or be impeached is one. Another Cruz favorite is the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's point of conservatives managing the government when in power as opposed to challenging the left. This, as Thatcher experienced the very same problem Cruz has found in American Republican politics as Thatcher did in the world of British Conservative governments. Thatcher noted that "in the fine print of policy, and especially in government, the Tory Party merely pitched camp in the long march to the left. It never seriously tried to reverse it."

This was a frustration of Ronald Reagan as well, with Reagan labeling Republicans of this nature "fraternal order" Republicans.

How does Cruz propose to change all of this?

He would rejuvenate the Reagan coalition. "If we're going to win," he said to CR, the GOP must be a "full spectrum" party including everyone from evangelicals to libertarians and beyond. He notes that when he ran for the Senate in Texas he had the support of both Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, the latter two who had famously gone at one another in the 2012 presidential primaries from different wings of the party.

"If we're going to win," he said to CR, the GOP must be a "full spectrum" party including everyone from evangelicals to libertarians and beyond.

What would a Cruz presidency look like? There would be three focus points.

First, he said to CR, "a president can change foreign policy overnight." He noted that Iran's attitude towards the United States changed almost literally the moment Reagan's hand went up on the Bible on inauguration day of 1981, with the American hostages that had been held for hundreds of days instantly released within minutes of Reagan's swearing-in. From Cuba to Iran to support for Israel and more, a Cruz presidency would bring a 180 degree reversal of the Obama era, restoring Reagan's "peace through strength" principles as the basis of US foreign policy.

Second, Cruz notes the Obama assertion that he had a "pen" that he would use to sign executive orders and get around a Republican Congress. "Live by the pen, die by the pen" Cruz told CR, saying that his very first task as president would be to "rescind every out of control regulation" created by the Obama pen.

Third, presidents have to deal with the world of legislation, and legislation is crafted by legislators who are sensitive to political heat. From repealing Obamacare to the flat tax and more, Cruz believes the 2016 campaign must be used by Republicans to get a mandate. To ensure that when the new Congress gathers in January of 2017 it is crystal clear why they were elected -- and that they then work with a President Cruz to enact that agenda.

On the Divide within the GOP

There is a disconnect, Cruz tells me, between the mindset of the GOP establishment as he recounts it in the opening chapter of his book, and the grassroots of the GOP as he encounters it on the campaign trail. That disconnect is central not only to his book but to his presidential campaign. And with reason.

The divide that Cruz discussed with CR and discussed as well in his book is, in fact, a political Grand Canyon -- and it is a central point in what he calls his "populist" campaign. There is a reason Cruz himself has had such stunning success in his fundraising, with over $30 million pouring into his campaign coffers within days of his Liberty University announcement. There is a reason so many in the GOP establishment disdain him.

He noted that over 100,000 people had signed up at TedCruz.org "because people are fed up" and there is a "grassroots wave" that is demanding a rebellion against the "Washington Cartel."

As if to illustrate his point, I mentioned his story in the book of an endorsement from President George H.W. Bush when Cruz was making a race for attorney general of Texas -- a race that eventually did not materialize when then-Attorney General Greg Abbott held on to the post. (Abbot, a Cruz friend, is now the governor.) Word of the endorsement reached the ears of Bush 43's "Architect" Karl Rove, whom Cruz considered a friend. An irate Rove called and gave Cruz grief for causing a stir among donors to the Bush 43 library who were supporting another potential attorney general candidate. Along the way, says Cruz, Rove indicated the elder Bush was "too old to have good judgment."

The publication of this story has caused a furious Karl Rove to come forth and challenge Cruz on the conversations Cruz cites, denying them. Cruz, in turn (as seen here) has released the full texts of the e-mails in question. Cruz's statement reads, in part:

"I have known Karl Rove for a long time, and have considered him a friend. I understood that my recounting in my book A Time for Truth the threats he made in the 2009 Texas Attorney General race--and the disparaging remarks he made about President George H.W. Bush--would cause him some discomfort.

"But I never imagined that his response would be a straight-out falsehood. It's disappointing; this is why people are so cynical about politics, because too many people are willing to lie."

Catch that last line? The one that says "this is why people are so cynical about politics, because too many people are willing to lie."

And so it is.

All of which makes A Time for Truth a riveting political read and Ted Cruz himself that rarest of rare breeds -- a truth-teller who is unafraid to take on all those Washington special interests and the Washington Cartel they represent.

Without doubt, Ted Cruz now has some of those scars from the arrows coming his way - many of them from establishment Republicans whose favorite firing position is from the back.

There are over a dozen candidates for the Republican presidential nomination out there in the 2016 cycle. But without a doubt, particularly among those who currently hold office or once did so, Cruz is a standout not just for his smarts but for that willingness to follow through on this promise to his Texas constituents in his successful Senate campaign against a Texas GOP establishment figure:

"If I go to Washington, and I just vote right a hundred percent of the time, I will consider myself an abject failure. If I am not standing on the front lines with arrows sticking out of my torso, I won't be doing my job."

Without doubt, Ted Cruz now has some of those scars from the arrows coming his way - many of them from establishment Republicans whose favorite firing position is from the back. He is indeed on the front lines -- and the man I spoke to has absolutely no intention of retreating.

Which is exactly why he has so many enemies inside Washington -- and so many more friends outside of it.

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