His presidential rivals thousands of miles away, Ted Cruz warned Jewish donors on Saturday that Donald Trump could trigger a general election “bloodbath” for the Republican Party.
“If Donald Trump is the nominee, it is an absolute disaster for Republicans, for conservatives and for the country,” the Texas senator declared, charging that Trump would jeopardize control of the House and the Senate and tilt the balance of power at the Supreme Court away from conservatives.
Cruz earned a warm reception, yet his appearance came amid an overall sense of dissatisfaction from many Jewish Republicans, gathered for their annual spring meeting at an upscale hotel along the Las Vegas strip. Many prefer Cruz over Trump, but few were excited about either candidate.
“It’s not a natural constituency for Ted Cruz, but over time, he’s won the war of attrition for some of these folks,” said Kellyanne Conway, a Republican operative leading a pro-Cruz super PAC. “He’s seen as the alternative to Donald Trump for many of these people.”
Indeed, there were some vocal Trump supporters among the roughly 500 who attended the weekend gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition, but they were in the minority.
Trump irked Jewish leaders earlier in the year by promising to remain neutral on prospective peace negotiations with the Israelis and Palestinians. And while his speech to a pro-Israel group in Washington last month was well-received, Trump’s nativist rhetoric alienates some Jewish leaders who “are scared by the concept of Donald Trump and the presidency,” said Republican Jewish attorney Charlie Spies.
“No American politician should be compared to Hitler because of the unique, horrific nature of the Nazi genocide,” said Spies, a former Jeb Bush supporter. “Having said that, there is an issue of tone and being able to whip up crowds, often directed at segments of society that get scapegoated. Anybody who has studied history would be concerned watching that.”
Trump is the least popular Republican presidential candidate among America’s registered Jewish voters, according to a poll commissioned by the Republican Jewish Coalition and shared privately with board members over the weekend. The poll found that Ohio Gov. John Kasich was the overwhelming favorite Republican, while Cruz fell in the middle.
Jewish voters represent roughly 3 percent of the American electorate, but have larger populations in swing states like Florida and Ohio.
Both Trump and Kasich declined invitations to attend the annual event, considered a can’t-miss for GOP candidates in recent years. Part of the reason: billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a key member who hosts the event at his Venetian hotel resort, was the top political spender in the last presidential race, pouring $90 million of family money into that campaign.
Trump and Kasich spent the day instead in New York ahead of the state’s April 19 primary election. There was little sign of Trump or Kasich representatives, but Cruz sent most of his senior team to the Las Vegas hotel. The list included campaign manager Jeff Roe, pollster Chris Wilson and its chief Jewish liaison, Nick Muzin. Pro-Cruz outside groups that can take unlimited contributions hosted simultaneous events in the same hotel to land donations.
At least two former presidential candidates — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry — were on hand as well, in addition to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.
Adelson hasn’t been willing to place a bet in this year’s unpredictable Republican presidential contest, sending mixed signals about his candidate preference. Yet Cruz’s status as the only candidate to make the trip to Las Vegas on Saturday was noticed.
“All three candidates were invited to attend our group today, but Sen. Cruz was the only one to accept our invitation,” said RJC board member Michael Epstein as the crowd applauded.
(AP)
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12 Responses
The interesting thing is “Geraldo Rivera” a leading conservative said the other day ted cruz meant the Jews and their money when he spoke about “New York Values” he actually called hims “anti semite” on one of the leading conservative media outlets. 100% true
Ted Cruz will do anything for votes… And of course money! He dont need this anymore we’ve had that from the republican party for years.. And for those that say hes not Washington well all i know is Jeb bush, Lindsey graham, mitt romney, all endorsed cruz so stop with the lies that hes not the establishment.
Just for the record our beloved former mayor rudy jiuliani “true friend of the jews, pro israel, made nyc safe again, kept us safe after 9/11” said today he will vote for Donald Trump April 19!! These are the people that understand what America needs and these people actually did something for us unlike ted cruz and the establishment!
1. Based on issues, Cruz’s positions are largely in line with those of the frum community. Many of Trump’s positions would hurt our community.
2. At present, polling suggests the Trump will lose badly leading leading to a quasi-socialist government that will act contrary to our interests. Cruz would have a chance if he finds a way to reach out to a broader constituency (both to the groups that supported other candidates such as Rubio and Bush, and more importantly to those who support Trump).
3. Trump may be able to adapt more easily, since his positions on many issues (isolationism, nativism, opposition to international trade, etc.) do not reflect his past practices and in any event, Trump supporters are supporting his attitudes towards the government more than specific ideological positions – while those who hate him are focused on specific political positions.
Also when in kibbutz it was a mapam organization controlled by mother Russia communist not socialist
Truecommonsense,
Just wait for trump to be prez, you’ll be crying in your sleep
Cruz 2016!
@”commonsense” I would love to dissect each of your comments individually.
1. If you know anything about Gerarldo Rivera, then you know that whenever given the slightest opportunity to cry rascism he does so. When the Republicans opposed Obama, he said it was because “America was not ready for a black president”. He accused Matt Drudge (who I don’t necessarily like either) of “engaging in rascist behavior” and “fomenting a civil war” by opposing illegal immigration. Now, Ted Cruz is a rascist because he critized New York values and the corruption that is rampant in New York politics?
2.Anyone running for an election would do anything to get as many votes as possible. I guess if you were running the Cruz campaign, you would have him hunting for votes in the liberal bastions of NYC instead of the frum community’s who actually share his values? Not a very sound campaign strategy. Would you also accuse Senator Cruz of doing anything for votes when he was speaking to a group of Middle Eastern Christians and he walked off the stage because they wouldn’t stop booing or shouting rascist remarks whenever he mentioned Israel? There weren’t any Jews in the audience or a large contingency of media for him to be pandering to as you are so quick to accuse him of.
As for the money; every campaign needs it to survive and have the proper infrastructure in place in order to be successful. A key case in point can be seen in what transpired over the last few days at the Colorado GOP convention. Ted Cruz was able to secure all 34 votes at the state as well as in the county conventions because of his superior infrastructure as opposed to the rest of the candidates. On a side note, it also showed the ability of a candidate to be aware of what needs to be done in order to get something accomplished.
As for the endorsements you are faulting him for getting, I would look at how those endorsements came about. All of the aformemtioned endorsers are and have been grave critics of Senator Cruz. Lindsey Graham went so far to say that deciding between Cruz and Trump is equivalent to deciding between getting shot or poisoned. To me that doesn’t sound like a very powerful endorsement. That being said, these guys understand that a Trump nomination would mean an absolute blood bath in the general election, and being that Cruz is the only close alternative, they have chosen to endorse him.
3. At this juncture in the nomination process, there are many different political figures who endorse candidates for various reasons. Rudy Giuliani has said that in his estimation Trump is the best option because he is my friend and I don’t know that any of the other candidates are a better option. Not exactly a resounding endorsement. That being said it is a definite advantage to Trump to have his endorsement than to not have it. As a frum person, I would be more interested to hear what my local Rav, Rebbi or Rosh Yeshiva would have to say before I start drooling over what Rudy Giuliani thinks. Mine (without naming names) has clearly stated that a man as obnoxious and foul mouthed as Mr Trump doesn’t belong anywhere near the white house. In his words: You can see why society in America is going down the drain when people can vote for a guy like Donald Trump. He has no moral values and could care less about Israel or Jews in general if the wind isn’t blowing in that direction on a particular day.
To summarize, Donald Trump would be nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.
a candidate who is a front runner from fist moment and all the media are busy with hem holds 10-20 thousand people ralleys and is wining by by just 40% of votes for a senator who get only one senat endorsement and all media are against hem and get about 20% coverage
that means something!!
35% of trump supporters are democrates and independents while the others are first time in politics why are the people that know politics arn`t trust hem that means something
please look at ted cruz tax plan and im sure you`ll change your mind
for all those out there that dont see reality it is trump who will and does anything for votes
cruz has a proven record of standing up for his values even at a cost of votes and one of those values is his unwavering support for israel
dont believe me google it
Yungerman, Obama won the election, Hitler won elections, Hugo Chavez won elections, nobody can whip up a crowd like Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, etc. I guess winning a majority/plurality or having the ability to whip up a crowd must mean that those mentioned are right in what they say or do. Yikes!
“you would have him hunting for votes in the liberal bastions of NYC instead of the frum community’s who actually share his values”
He was campaigning in the South Bronx, which voted 97% for Obama, casting barely 5,000 votes for Romney. (That is not a typo.) But it may make sense, as that congressional district gets the same three national convention delegates as the one upstate that cast 180,000 votes for Romney. If there actually are any evangelical Christian theocrats there it won’t take many to give him the three delegates.
@charliehall You are 100% correct that Senator Cruz visited the Sabrosura 2 restaurant in the Bronx to court some Christian religios leaders. The reason that you cited is also correct and in a primary those numbers are magnified to an even greater extent. The reason being is that in an average primary, only about 30-40% of the voters come out and vote. So even in this election cycle where we have a much more competitive primary than usual, there probably still won’t be more than 3,000 voters in the entire congressional district primary. Thus the attempt to attract even the smallest number of votes.
The larger point I was trying to make earlier, was that “TrueCommonSense” was criticizing Cruz for trying to court Jewish voters. Our values in the frum community are very much in line with a lot of the values Senator Cruz ascribes to. For example, Senator Cruz supports school choice with vouchers, he supports the “traditional” definition of marriage, he is tough on terrorism, and lastly probably the biggest defender for acheinu bnei Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel. It is for these reasons that visiting a matzah bakery or meeting with some leaders in the frum community would make a lot of sense. Not so much to pander or try to fool them into supporting him, but to simply ask for our support just as he has stood up for us.
If he was a candidate like Trump that just woke up yesterday about holding these beliefs, TrueCommonSense would have an excellent point. The fact of the matter is that Senator Cruz has a proven track record of defending us and our values which in turn should get us out in droves to support him.