With this election season approaching faster than expected, young people have begun taking advantage of their social media platforms to express their support for their candidate and urge others to do the same. They have also taken it upon themselves to declare their passionate hatred for Donald Trump.
You can look almost anywhere and find teenagers and other millennials protesting Trump—even at his own rallies! This collective hatred for the Republican frontrunner is expressed through endless memes and vines, as well as lengthy textposts explaining just how bad he really is. There are even songs that have been written to convey just how much young people hate this man, and just how terrified of him we are. The energy focused into anti-Trump movements is not fruitless, as we are succeeding in educating many on the horrible things that would come along with a President Trump. However, it has come to my attention that maybe Trump isn’t the one we should be worried about.
Don’t get me wrong, Donald Trump is a terrible person. He has no filter, no respect, and his entire campaign is rooted racism. However, the Republican party is already aware of this. Republicans are angry that Trump is representing their party, and many are actively protesting against him in the same way that we are. If Donald Trump has not secured 1,237 delegates by the time of the Republican National Convention—which he likely will not—the convention will become a contested convention. On the first ballot, a majority of delegates are required to vote for a certain candidate in response to the votes of their home state, but if Trump cannot secure the necessary amount of delegates on a first ballot, a second ballot will take place. In the event of this happening, many delegates will be unbound from their initial required vote, enabling them to vote for the candidate of their choice. If a second ballot takes place, Ted Cruz has a very good shot at beating Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
This probably doesn’t sound like such an awful occurrence, considering anyone—even Hillary!—is better than Trump, right? Well…that’s debatable. The internet has turned Ted Cruz into a meme—as the zodiac killer, which admittedly, is very funny—and in that, turns a blind eye to his actual policies, plans, and his background.
Ted Cruz is every bit as hateful as Trump is, but he’s a ridiculously intelligent politician and a successful attorney. He might have more of a filter than Trump, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t agree with a lot of the things Trump spews. He’s a conservative and evangelical Republican who doesn’t support gay rights, denies climate change, is racist and hates women. He’s probably the most hated Republican politician there is among Democrats and Republicans alike.
In 2013, Ted Cruz shut down the government. Literally. He delivered a twenty one hour speech on the Senate floor to stall the voting of the Affordable Care Act. Because a decision was not reached in time, the next fiscal year began without a plan in place, and the government shut down. When confronted with questions about this, he is quick to shift the blame onto liberal Senators or Obama.
In addition to that, Ted Cruz is funded by the Koch brothers—two industrialists who are basically destroying the environment. He has received more money from the two—who donate to many conservative candidates—than any other current presidential candidate. The Koch brothers, who are very powerful and have a significant influence in American politics, are very anti-Trump, and seem to have deemed Cruz their golden boy. If Cruz wasn’t conservative enough on his own, he is also—to a degree—being controlled by two capitalist earth destroyers. If he was ever to enter the Oval Office, we can throw any hope there is for social justice right out the window. Ted Cruz is far too right wing for us to make any progress in our goals of equality.
It terrifies me to see people overlooking Ted Cruz as a potential president, because let’s face it: he is. People are so angry and so sure that Trump will win the nomination that they haven’t even stopped to consider the fact that maybe Trump is preferable to Cruz. Many of the things that Trump promises and plans piss everyone off, but they are not likely to be implemented if he is elected. But Cruz is a tried and true politician. He understands how to work Washington in his favor and could potentially regress any progress America has made. Donald Trump is a threat, but Ted Cruz—who does not understand the concepts of compromise and consensus—could destroy us.
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