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Boehner Calls Trump His “Buddy” and Cruz “Lucifer in the Flesh”
John Boehner, avatar of the loathed GOP establishment, took the stage at Stanford University Wednesday night to get a few things off his chest:
Much of the discussion — and laughs — focused on Boehner’s views on the current presidential candidates. Segueing into the topic, Kennedy asked Boehner to be frank given that the event was not being broadcasted, and the former Speaker responded in kind. When specifically asked his opinions on Ted Cruz, Boehner made a face, drawing laughter from the crowd.
“Lucifer in the flesh,” the former Speaker said. “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”
Boehner described other Republican candidates as friends. In particular, he said he has played golf with Donald Trump for years and that they were “texting buddies.”
…Later, he added that he had known Clinton for 25 years and finds her to be very accomplished and smart.
So, let’s get this straight: Hillary is accomplished and smart, while Ted Cruz is Beelzebub, Infernal Sovereign of the Netherworld. I shouldn’t be surprised that the former Speaker of the House is Trump’s buddy; not many Orange-Americans have made it so far in political circles.
Boehner for the most part accepted Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee, though he did express his surprise at the candidate’s success. While he did not praise Trump’s policies, the former Speaker did say he would vote for Trump in the general election if he becomes the Republican nominee. He said he would not, however, vote for Cruz.
Fellow establishment gadfly Peter King thought Boehner’s remarks were far too kind:
In an interview with CNN, the New York Republican congressman told Wolf Blitzer he agreed with the former House speaker, who called Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh” on Wednesday night.
“Maybe he gives Lucifer a bad name by comparing him to Ted Cruz,” King said.
Thankfully, there was one Republican elected official who was willing to defend Cruz, anti-establishment Sen. Mike Lee:
Published in General
This will probably help Cruz.
Peter King still has his job. Unfortunately. So there’s more to it than plain old human bitterness.
If there is video as well as audio, he could use it in ads.
I wouldn’t want Obama or Gingrich over for dinner.
I hope this does help Cruz. As someone that at least tried to understand Boehner’s position as Speaker, what he said is inexcusable (and theologically screwed up). Who really is the establishment, now, Mr. “Everyone’s corrupt, and I ought to know; I corrupted ’em”?
This morning I had been thinking that there would be no stopping trump unless the GOPe would apologize to the nation for what it had done. And to show to show their sincerity and appease the moral sense of the universe, they should throw a number of their ilk, drawn by lot, into a live volcano.
But it probably wouldn’t work. Traditionally, innocent virgins are used for such a sacrifice, which is about as opposite to the corrupt GOPe as you can get. Which means that if Boehner or King were among those selected by lot, the volcano would probably reject them.
Still, what could it hurt to give it a try?
Some surrender monkeys are slow to react to changes….
That just might trigger the Yellowstone supervolcano and we are all screwed.
If you really want to get rid of big government, you need to get a really rich guy who will come in, look it over and call in the team to break it into pieces, sell it off, out source it and move it overseas while killing the pension funds with a one time payout in t bills..
I mean really rich, not Trump rich.
Given Trump’s penchant for rolling over on his back and dribbling out some gratitude when big authority figures admit some admiration, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear him say some nice words about Boehner’s fine grasp of character in the next few days. This will be held forth as a sign he can negotiate the corridors of power, and further validate his power to destroy the establishment. He’s the most lethal kind of change-agent: an insider-outsider. (Or vice versa; your call.)
I propose that instead of denigrating the long list of current and former politicians who have spoken out against Cruz’s character, we pause a moment and listen. These are all people who at one point or another in the past few years, we all defended. And in any event, conservatives need these right leaning politicians on our side to accomplish anything.
This is not a defense of Trump. Enough politicians have the same concerns about Trump, and we encourage them and nod when they say something to point out Trump’s many character flaws. Let’s listen to them too.
We shouldn’t be nominating Cruz because he inspires such hatred among people who are essential to his success. That simple point should have been acknowledged last summer. Too many people share Boehner’s opinion for him to be successful in a national election. Many bought in to the idea that he could bring people over to him. The opposite is happening as he is losing the middle now. We blame that on Trump because it allows us to keep intact our view of Cruz. But it was evident from the beginning that too many people thought the guy was a jerk. Just go and listen to the Ricochet podcasts from last summer. The same concerns were evident among the Ricochet opinion leaders.
Boehner does seem to be venting some anger to be sure. But he is also indirectly pointing out why Cruz has been unable to build enough support around him to succeed. Too many people he needs agree with Boehner.
Mike Lee is standing up to the establishment in Washington too. People don’t hate him. What does that tell you?
These Republicans don’t hate Cruz because he is challenging their interests. It’s Washington. That’s as common as can be in that town. They hate him because he is a jerk. It’s too easy to assume away their objections as being tied to his anti-establishment positions.
The “they hate him because he is upsetting the establishment” theory just ensures that you create enemies among people you need and who may agree with you if, in fact, the guy is a jerk and their objections are not because of the anti-establishment positions. In that case, you are letting an ego maniac destroy any chance of achieving your goals. I believe that is what Cruz is. Much, much more harmful to conservatives than good.
I understand there is a good amount of catharsis going on right now in the forums and in the conservative movement generally. We are looking for public validation that we were right all along and this Trump idiot stole it away. It’s understandable. But I will continue to point out some hard truths that are being validated by Republican voters in the hope that we move past catharsis and move into the phase where we figure out how to utilize what we learned to make it back.
I guess this now means that if you oppose Cruz you must be for Boehner.
Lucifer before or after the fall? It may have been a compliment.
It’s probably because Mitch lied.
I think it means if you support Trump you like Boehner
Tinfoil hat time: agreed, and Boehner knew what he was doing. Gotta respect Boehner for doing what he can for Cruz.
I have shelf full of tin foil hats and I am not pulling one out for this.
I think Boehner was speaking sincerely and there is no
tcollusion or gamesmanship in play to reinforce Cruz’s anti establishment bona fides.Dave Carter wins the internet.
That would require a level of personal insight into his reputation that very few politicians have, Boehner not being one of the few.
So we should ignore policy and vote for whoever is a “great guy?” I believe that is why a portion of NYC is forced to endure the representation of Charlie Rangel.
We don’t elect these people for them to hang out and pal around. We elect them based on their positions
I have never appreciated John Boehner. He represents the vile group of Republicans, like John McCain, who are constantly attacking the conservative wing and the Tea Party folks yet never have a harsh word for Democrats. I have come to dismiss pretty much everything they say. I am surprised, however, about Peter King. Although he hasn’t been mentioned here, he reiterated Boehner’s remarks about Cruz. I know P. King is a NY Republican and although not as conservative as I might like, he has been a strong advocate against Islamist terrorism. Around Ricochet, this next statement won’t be adored…this was not Donald Trump speaking, so place the shame where it belongs…John Boehner and Peter King.
I think I just had my first episode of TDS. #NeverTrump never looked so good….
As usual.
My problem with this is how little substance there is to back up the anti-Cruz people. This is like the climate alarmists in that rather than details they just resort to the number of people who claim we are causing large changes to the climate.
This is a good point, though. Cruz’s character is either bad or it has been assassinated — or both. As such, he will have a built-in difficulty.
But, I don’t think it’s self-inflicted. I think it is mostly the negative side of the GOPe who close ranks against people who threaten them. It’s all too similar in style to what was done to Newt.
It might be that it tells me that he is less effective than Cruz in communicating with the anti-D.C. movement. Also that he doesn’t have the fire in his belly that Cruz does. Point men take more abuse.
How can you tell the difference? People who challenge interests are common in D.C. but there aren’t many who are effective. How do you decide which is the case here?
Still other than a consensus what drives you to insist this is the case?
You seem to only have one hard truth — not plural: A lot of people hate Cruz. Is this deserved? And why — what did he really do that was just so damn bad?
Meanwhile, and apropos of nothing in this thread, Joe Biden recently arrived in Iraq aboard a plane named “The Spirit of Strom Thurmond.”
Conspiracy theory – Cruz asked Boehner to make these remarks so that after Trump swept the liberal northeast Cruz could drip-drip-drip the media momentum away from Fox News (aka the Trump Super PAC) – Fiorina picked, Boehner exposes Trump as establishment. What Cruz-in-the-headlines story is coming next?
Counter conspiracy theory – level headed Mike Lee was actually angry, you could tell from his tone, in his radio interview with Mark Levin. This would lead you to believe that team Cruz probably had no idea Boehner would unload on him in such a bizarre manner.
Crazy conspiracy theory – Boehner can’t stand Trump and Trump’s ideas and knew that casting Trump as establishment and Cruz as anti-establishment was the best way to get Cruz across the finish line in IN.
Thank you, sir!
Boehner may have misplaced his Kleenex box for the Hellraiser puzzle box.
I always think, “surely this time I’ve got a handle on how incompetent the GOP officeholders are,” and I’m always proven wrong. Even when they help the cause, they do so by accident.