Cruz fires back at Vance with a two-word slam in exchange of jabs

BS BULLETIN:

Vice President JD Vance says it is “really obvious” Sen. Ted Cruz is already running for president in 2028.
Cruz responded by accusing Vance of political “bomb-throwing” because he’s “feeling insecure.”
Both men insist they’re focused on helping Republicans win the midterms — while neither has closed the door on 2028.

The 2028 Republican presidential primary doesn’t officially exist yet. Ted Cruz and JD Vance apparently didn’t get the memo.

The Texas senator fired back at the vice president over the weekend after Vance accused Cruz of already maneuvering for the Republican presidential nomination two years from now.

“In my experience, people engage in political bomb-throwing when they’re feeling insecure,” Cruz told Politico.

“So he’s welcome to make whatever comments he likes.”

The exchange began when Vance was asked about Cruz’s increasingly public discussion of the Republican Party’s post-Trump future.

“It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president,” Vance said.

Then the vice president added a pointed distinction. “At this moment, I’m not. I’m trying to help elect Republicans. That’s what I’m going to keep on doing.”

Cruz says he’s doing exactly the same thing. “I’m going to keep focusing on the midterms and helping us win on Election Day in the next 30 days,” he said.

Both men have indeed been traveling the country campaigning for Republican candidates.

Cruz pointed out that he’s spent years doing exactly that — including for Vance.

“Ironically, I spent a full day on the road with JD Vance, campaigning with him when he was running for Senate in Ohio,” Cruz said.

“I was very glad he won that race. I was very glad to help him.”

But there is considerably more history behind this little exchange than two Republicans arguing about who’s working harder in the midterms.

Cruz has made no secret of the fact that another presidential campaign interests him.

He finished second to Donald Trump in the bitter 2016 Republican primary and said in August that he would “certainly be part of the discussion” surrounding the GOP’s 2028 future.

When specifically asked whether Republicans had already settled on Vance as Trump’s successor, Cruz’s answer was unmistakable.

“Oh, no.”

Vance hasn’t announced a 2028 campaign either.

But as vice president, he occupies an obvious place in any conversation about who might inherit Trump’s political coalition after the president leaves office.

The potential fault line is about considerably more than two ambitious politicians.

Cruz has increasingly emphasized traditional conservative priorities including free markets, fiscal restraint and a more muscular American foreign policy.

Vance has become one of the most prominent voices of the newer populist Republican coalition, particularly on trade and foreign intervention.

Those disagreements have occasionally surfaced publicly.

They’ve surfaced privately too.

Earlier this year, recordings obtained by Axios captured Cruz sharply criticizing Vance’s influence on Trump administration foreign policy and linking the vice president ideologically with Tucker Carlson.

Cruz has nevertheless repeatedly described himself as a Trump ally.

For the moment, both Cruz and Vance insist November 2026 — not November 2028 — is where their attention belongs.

They’re just arguing about which one of them isn’t running for president.

MY QUICK TAKE

Ah, presidential politics.

Nothing says “I’m absolutely not thinking about 2028” quite like accusing the other fellow of thinking about 2028.

There is a serious conservative argument underneath this. Donald Trump didn’t simply win Republican elections. He rearranged the Republican coalition.

The old GOP emphasized free trade, entitlement reform, limited government and a muscular internationalist foreign policy. The Trump coalition added economic nationalism, tariffs, skepticism of foreign interventions and a working-class populism that would have sounded decidedly un-Republican twenty years ago.

Cruz and Vance represent different answers to the question Republicans eventually have to confront: How much of Trumpism survives when Trump himself is no longer the candidate?

That’s a real debate.

And unlike the consultant-manufactured food fights Washington usually gives us, this one involves two intelligent conservatives who genuinely disagree about significant things.

But let’s enjoy the choreography first.

Vance: Ted is obviously running for president.

Cruz: JD only said that because he’s insecure.

Both: We’re completely focused on the midterms.

Gentlemen, please. We’ve seen this movie before.

The campaign hasn’t started. They’re merely fighting over who isn’t running.