GRANHOLM: “The rhetoric that’s being used by Donald Trump, by Ted Cruz is dangerous to America because it accelerates ISIS’s ability to recruit. And that to me, it cannot be overstated.”
Between this comment and Cruz’s decision last week to hold a campaign event at a gun range, after he voted against banning individuals on the no-fly list from purchasing guns, Ted Cruz is looking like the GOP’s most extreme candidate. With rhetoric this dangerous, we don’t want to know how risky Cruz’ actual policies will be.
Ted Cruz: Too Extreme
On Foreign Policy
Ted Cruz on ISIS: “We will carpet bomb them into oblivion.” “U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said Saturday he would ‘utterly destroy’ the Islamic State if elected president. ‘We will carpet bomb them into oblivion. I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out,’ Cruz said at the Rising Tide Summit in Cedar Rapids.” [Des Moines Register, 12/5/15]
On Gun Control
Ted Cruz said the push for stronger gun laws after mass shootings was “cynical” and “wrong.” “We ought to do everything we can, for example, to be prosecuting the felons and fugitives who are trying to illegally buy guns. The Obama administration doesn’t do that. Instead they try to use these tragedies as an excuse to come after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. It’s unconstitutional, it’s cynical, and it’s wrong.” [Buzzfeed, 10/2/15]
On Choice
Ted Cruz opposed abortion even for victims of rape and incest, and referred to contraception as “abortion-inducing drugs.” “Cruz, like Akin, opposes abortion for victims of rape and incest. He also labels forms of contraception such as Plan B ‘abortifacients’, which isn’t scientifically or medically correct. At the Value Voters Summit last fall, Cruz repeatedly referred to contraception as ‘abortion-inducing drugs.’” [U.S. News and World Report, 3/23/15]
On Birthright Citizenship
Ted Cruz said the Constitution should “absolutely” be changed to end birthright citizenship. “When the Texas senator was asked Wednesday on the Michael Medved show if the 14th Amendment should be changed, Cruz answered ‘absolutely.’ ‘We should end granting automatic birthright citizenship to the children of those who are here illegally,’ he said.” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]
On Marriage Equality
Ted Cruz said a Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality was “naked and lawless judicial activism.” “Sen. Ted Cruz, another Republican candidate for president, warned in a speech Thursday of a deliberate attempt by Democrats to impose ‘mandatory gay marriage in all 50 states.’ ‘I would encourage everyone here to be lifting up in prayer that [the Supreme Court] not engage in an act of naked and lawless judicial activism tearing down the marriage laws adopted pursuant to the Constitution,’ Cruz said.” [RealClearPolitics, 6/19/15]
On Climate
Ted Cruz said that people who believe global warming is real are “the equivalent of the flat-Earthers.” “Cruz, the red-meat Texas senator with an army of conservative followers, raised eyebrows on Tuesday when he told the Texas Tribune that people who believe global warming is real are ‘the equivalent of the flat-Earthers’. ‘It used to be it is accepted scientific wisdom the Earth is flat, and this heretic named Galileo was branded a denier,’ Cruz said.” [Guardian, 3/27/15]