Ted Cruz's apology isolates almost everyone

As most people who care know, the 5,234rd Republican Debate of this primary season was held last week. As most people know, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said something pretty stupid. I won't rehash it, but if you need a reminder, here's a quick summary:

Cruz lashed out at the city while firing back at billionaire front-runner—and New Yorker—Donald Trump, who had attacked Cruz previously over the Canadian-born Senator’s eligibility to run for President. In a dig at Trump, Cruz, who is currently polling in second place, said, “there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York, but everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, [and] focus around money and the media.”

Now that's not really a big thing, self-labeled conservatives are always attacking New York as one of the centers of everything that's wrong with the US. It's to be expected. All the comment really seemed to achieve is making Donald Trump sound like the adult in the room instead of the seventh-grader that we've gotten used to in the last few months.

A day or so later, Cruz offered what was supposed to be an "apology."

 You're right, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio," have asked me to apologize," Cruz said. "I apologize to the millions of New Yorkers who've been let down by liberal politicians."

Cruz continued with a litany of "apologies" to jab at Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio.

He apologized to those "denied jobs because Gov. Cuomo won't allow fracking."

He apologized to the New Yorkers who are "pro-life and pro-marriage and pro-second amendment who were told by Gov. Cuomo they have no place in New York."

He apologized to the "African American children who Mayor de Blasio tried to throw out of their charter schools that were providing a pipeline to American Dream."

He also apologized to New York law enforcement and first responders who de Blasio doesn't stand with and instead "stands with looters and criminals."

Now, at its face, the apology just sounds like the usual pandering non-apology. But under the surface, there's something pretty disturbing about Sen. Cruz.

From what one gathers from his apology, it's obvious that he doesn't see the presidency as an office that represents Americans as a whole. Instead, he seems to see it as an extension of his Senate seat, one where he represents a finite number of people against the rest of the United States.

Cruz's apology exposed a rather narrow view. He only cares about the New Yorkers who fit into his narrow view of what a "conservative" is. He doesn't seem to care about the real people who don't conform to these narrow views, that often hold both conservative, liberal and in between positions. It sounds more like those nationalist or theocratic governments where everybody except the chosen few is stripped of voice and power.

It's kind of scary that so many Americans are either too lazy to look deeper behind this sort of rhetoric or embrace it wholeheartedly. With Trump and Cruz both embracing the nationalist talk, the Republicans are likely to see themselves lead by candidates who want to destroy the government and isolate the US from the rest of the world.

Of course, I'm not endorsing the Democrats here. But it seems like we're going to be stuck with the lesser of two evils again.

Hillary, the most likely Democratic candidate, isn't someone anybody seems real passionate about. But is that really necessary when you're turning out to vote against candidates who want to disassemble the government and take us back to 1776, a time when blacks were slaves, women were powerless and education was for the lucky?

Doesn't sound that great to me.

Tweet