Thread: Donald Trump’s transparent, misguided questioning of Ted Cruz’s religion

Donald Trump’s transparent, misguided questioning of Ted Cruz’s religion
By Janell Ross January 2

This is going to be brief. So, it's got to be blunt.

This is precisely what Donald Trump, national GOP front-runner but second place in Iowa, told an Iowa crowd this week while stumping for votes.

Just remember this -- you gotta remember, in all fairness, to the best of my knowledge, not too many evangelicals come out of Cuba, okay? Just remember that … just remember.

Got that? Those are his words. A Cruz spokesperson has said camp Cruz is "confused" by Trump's statement. We will not dedicate time, space or energy to parsing those words in ways that might offer some alternative meaning than the one most evident and likely, which would be this: Donald Trump thought it would advance his political aims if voters in Iowa were reminded that Ted Cruz is a Cuban (technically half-Cuban) and/or cast doubt on whether Cruz is a true evangelical.

This comes from the the ever-useful section of campaign play books that say tell voters why your competition is "not like us."

You might give such activities whatever label you prefer. We've seen the term "veiled." We think blatant effort to question's someone else's story and/or beliefs for political gain or ignorance and disdain for current and accurate information might pair nicely. So, what we will deal with here are some facts.

First, Donald Trump's knowledge of the Cuban religious diaspora is, apparently, limited and outdated.

In Cuba right now, Protestant and Protestant Evangelical churches are experiencing rapid membership growth. In the United States, Latino-Americans with ancestral and direct links to many different Latin American countries, including Cuba, are driving some of the only growth in many Protestant denominations. Latino evangelicals represent the fastest-growing religious group in the United States. Some are Cuban-American evangelicals.

To be clear, the majority of American Latinos are Catholic. But the share who are Catholic slid from 67 percent in 2006 to 59 percent in 2013. During that same period, the share of Latinos who described themselves to researchers as evangelical grew from 14 to 18 percent. And all indications are that this trend has continued. In 2014, nearly a quarter -- 24 percent -- of all Latino adults were raised Catholic but no longer call themselves Catholics.

On top of this, by 2007, more than half of Latino Catholics, compared to 1 in 8 non-Latino Catholics, describe themselves as charismatic, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. That means the majority of Latino Catholics were committed to the church and its traditional teachings and also say they have "witnessed or experienced occurrences typical of spirit-filled or renewalist movements, including divine healing and direct revelations from God," according to the Pew report.

None of this is a research-world secret. These phenomena have been written about in Time magazine, in The Washington Post, in the New York Times and on CNN as well as and publications published by several protestant denominations and religious information outlets many, many times.

Finally, Ted Cruz is a self-identified evangelical and the son of an evangelical -- and many would say extremely conservative -- Cuban-American pastor. We have no more reason or authority to doubt that than Donald Trump's declarations that he is a life-long practicing Christian, even if he cannot name a Bible verse. That is between Trump and his God.

Now, as for why Trump said what he said and when he said it, there are a few facts that can also be offered here.

First, Donald Trump is trailing Ted Cruz in Iowa by nearly three points in Real Clear's average of state polls. So changing that, like all campaign activities, is the most likely goal. There's also some reason for Trump to believe that turning to a classic "us versus them," "he's not like us" campaign tactic will work. It has worked many, many times before. And, there is evidence to suggest that it is a tactic that is particularly effective with Republican voters when combined with some sort of racial, ethnic or religious component. What evidence you say?

Well there are the litany of polls showing far greater Republican support for concepts floated by Trump such as a temporary ban on Muslim immigration; interning or tracking Muslims in the United States and requiring Muslims to carry or display some form of special identification and ejecting Syrian refugees from the United States who have already been admitted. And there are the many polls showing that Trump's standing surged with voters often after voicing these very ideas.

Also adding to the evidence that "he's not like us" arguments (with a racial, ethnic or religious gooey center) are a body of studies showing that Republican voters are particularly responsive to these sorts of appeals -- the most recent of which Wonkblog's Max Ehrenfreund wrote about in some detail this week. A team of Stanford University researchers found that producers working to produce anti-Obama ads frequently darkened his skin or selected images where Obama's skin appears notably dark.

That was especially true in ads that aimed to critique Obama or to connect him with certain issues such as crime. The practice builds on the work of other ad-makers and political operatives responsible for things like the infamous Willie Horton ad and the now much-written-about "Southern Strategy."

In short, it is not a coincidence that each of these things were created and deployed in the interest of Republican candidates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ruzs-religion/

Rafael Bienvenido Cruz
Personal details
Born Rafael Bienvenido Cruz
March 22, 1939 (age 76)
Matanzas, Cuba
Spouse(s) Julia Garza (m.1959)
Eleanor E. Darragh Cruz (div. 1997)
Children 3 (including Rafael Edward "Ted")
Parents Rafael Cruz, Laudelina Diaz
Residence Carrollton, Texas
Education University of Texas
Religion Christian

Rafael Bienvenido Cruz (born 22 March 1939) is a Cuban-born American Christian preacher and public speaker. The father of US politician Ted Cruz, he is described by various media outlets including the Wall Street Journal as an acting surrogate in his son's political campaigns.[1][2]

Contents

1 Early life
2 Religious and political beliefs
3 Personal life
4 References

Early life

Cruz was born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1939. His father, Rafael Cruz, was a salesman for RCA, originally from the Canary Islands, Spain. His mother, Laudelina Diaz, was a teacher.[3][4]

Although his Cuban contemporary peers dispute his account of his history, Cruz states he joined the Cuban revolution at age 14 and "suffered beatings and imprisonment for protesting the oppressive regime"[5][6][7][8] of dictator Fulgencio Batista.[9][10] According to Cruz, as a teenager, he "didn't know Castro was a Communist".[11] Cruz has stated in interviews that he fled Cuba at age 18 in 1957, after an attorney for the family bribed a Batista official to grant an exit permit.[12][13] Cruz said he left with $100 sewn into his underwear before the Battle of Santa Clara, in which the revolution toppled Batista on January 1, 1959.

A Cuban émigré, he knew little or no English[14] when he arrived in Austin,[8] to study at the University of Texas. During interviews and on the campaign trail, Cruz' son Ted recalls his father telling him he worked his way through college as a dishwasher, making 50 cents an hour.[15][16] Cruz graduated from the university with a degree in mathematics.[8] A few years later he became a staunch critic of Castro after "the rebel leader took control and began seizing private property and suppressing dissent".[7][17] Cruz recounts that his younger sister fought against the new regime in the counter-revolution and was consequently tortured. He remained regretful for his early support of Castro and expressed his remorse to his son on numerous occasions.[7][10]

Religious and political beliefs

Cruz left the Roman Catholic Church in 1975 and became a born-again Christian after attending a Bible study with a colleague. Explaining his conversion, Cruz stated in an interview with The National Review, "The people at the Bible study had a peace that I could not understand, this peace in the midst of trouble. I knew I needed to find that peace by finding Jesus Christ." Following his conversion, his son and wife also became born-again Christians. In the Cruz home, talk at dinner time was frequently about the Bible.[18]

Cruz works from his home in Carrollton, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, as a traveling preacher[19][20] and public speaker, campaigning as a surrogate for his son during the 2016 Presidential campaign season.[21][22] In a 2014 Associated Press story, Cruz was quoted as saying, "I have a burden for this country and I feel that we cannot sit silent." He went on to say that he feels "It's time we stop being politically correct and start being biblically correct."[22]

About his political involvements in the 1980s, Cruz reflected, "I was on the state board of the Religious Roundtable, a Christian and Jewish religious organization that worked to elect Ronald Reagan." At the time, he told his son, "God has destined you for greatness."[21][23]

At the New Beginnings Church in Irving, Texas, in August 2012, Cruz delivered a sermon where he described his son's senatorial campaign as taking place within a context where Christian "kings" were anointed to preside over an "end-time transfer of wealth" from wicked people to the righteous. Cruz urged the congregation to "tithe mightily" to achieve that result.[24] During an interview conducted by the Christian Post in 2014, Cruz stated, "I think we cannot separate politics and religion; they are interrelated. They've always been interrelated."[25] Salon described Cruz as a "Dominionist, devoted to a movement that finds in Genesis a mandate that 'men of faith' seize control of public institutions and govern by biblical principle."[26]

Personal life

In 1959, Cruz married Julia Ann Garza (1939-2013), but divorced after a few years. She later became a professor at California State University, Stanislaus. They had two daughters, Miriam Ceferina Cruz (11/22/61-2011) and Roxana Lourdes Cruz (b. 1962), a Greenville, Texas, physician. He has one grandson.[7][19][27][28]

In his twenties, Cruz moved to New Orleans. In 1969, at his new oil company job, he met his second wife, Eleanor Elizabeth Darragh Wilson, a computer programmer from Delaware. Cruz and Wilson lived in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where their only child, Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz, was born.[29] While in Calgary, the couple owned a seismic-data processing firm for oil drillers.[7][8]

After Cruz graduated from the University of Texas in 1961, he was granted political asylum in the United States following the expiration of his student visa.[12] He became a Canadian citizen during his residence in Canada, returning to the United States with his family in the mid-'70s. He renounced his Canadian citizenship and in 2005 became a naturalized U.S. citizen.[12][30]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Bienvenido_Cruz

Trump's reference to Cuba isn't about Ted Cruz, it's about Ted's father, Rafael.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Bienvenido_Cruz

Please help me to understand the purpose of this thread. Is it an insinuation that something is wrong with Ted Cruz's father converting to Christianity or is it to draw attention to Trump's veiled racist remark in an attempt to gain him an advantage in Iowa?

A Cruz spokesperson has said camp Cruz is "confused" by Trump's statement. We will not dedicate time, space or energy to parsing those words in ways that might offer some alternative meaning than the one most evident and likely, which would be this: Donald Trump thought it would advance his political aims if voters in Iowa were reminded that Ted Cruz is a Cuban (technically half-Cuban) and/or cast doubt on whether Cruz is a true evangelical.

IMO, Trump is would be ill-advised to attack anyone based on their ancestry or Christian roots.

Ted Cruz Tells Volunteers to 'Strap on Full Armor of God'
1:00PM EST 1/4/2016 Jessilyn Justice

Ted Cruz told his campaign supporters to "strap on the full armor of God," during a recent Iowa campaign stop.

The Republican candidate, who kicked off his campaign at Liberty University, is the man to beat, according to PJ Media.

Cruz's Ephesians 6 approach was revealed on New Year's Eve.

"We're winning right now, and as a result, I want to tell everyone, get ready," Cruz said. "Strap on the full armor of God, get ready for the attacks that are coming. ... We ain't seen nothing yet."

And while Cruz is asking for supporters to put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, shoes that spread the gospel of peace and use the sword of the Spirit, others in the Republican Party are mudslinging.

"Cruz isn't exaggerating about the attacks," PJ Media's Michael Van Der Galien writes. "Senator Marco Rubio and his SuperPAC are doing everything in their power to discredit the senator from Texas, even if they have to spin and blatantly lie to do so. More recently, Rand Paul also jumped on the anti-Cruz bandwagon, accusing him of flip flopping. I'm sure the senator from Kentucky will continue to do so in the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses."

But Cruz appears to be pushing ahead. He's predicted he'll win the Iowa Caucus and believes the Republican primary will be decided by March.

http://www.charismanews.com/politics...l-armor-of-god

Jan 4 2016, 11:53 am ET
Ted Cruz Calls for Oregon Armed Protesters to 'Stand Down'

by Vaughn Hillyard and Carrie Dann

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Monday called for armed protesters who occupied a federal building in Oregon to "stand down peaceably."

"Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds," Cruz told reporters in Iowa. "But we don't have a constitutional right to use force and violence and to threaten force and violence against others. So it is our hope that the protesters there will stand down peaceably, that there will not be a violent confrontation."

Cruz added that "our prayers" are with members of law enforcement addressing the standoff, which started Saturday after a group of protesters seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also addressed the issue Monday, telling an Iowa radio station "you cannot be lawless."

Rubio said during an interview with KBUR that he agrees "that there is too much federal control over land especially out in the western part of the United States."

"We should fix it, but no one should be doing it in a way that's outside the law," he added.

The occupying group includes Ammon and Ryan Bundy, the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who led another tense confrontation over federal government land rights in 2014. The group says it is pushing for limits on the federal government's control over Western land.

GOP candidates had largely been quiet on the Oregon clash over the weekend, although not all campaigns were mum.

John Weaver, a senior aide for GOP candidate John Kasich, said in a tweet: "I know a good federal compound for Bundy and his gang: a U.S. penitentiary."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016...d-down-n489846