--- title: Ted Cruz: Why He Deserves Donald Trump's Birther Scrutiny description: Until now, being Trump’s lackey has been a smart strategy for Cruz canonical: https://time.com/4172788/ted-cruz-donald-trump-birther/ author: Elise Jordan article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-08T16:47:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:35.446Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Ted Cruz Deserves Donald Trump's Birther Scrutiny og:description: Until now, being Trump’s lackey has been a smart strategy for Cruz og:url: https://time.com/4172788/ted-cruz-donald-trump-birther/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f760c3743cc3f54/6988782ecd1bba4ffc6fed86/ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4839 og:image:height: 2722 og:image:alt: Ted Cruz og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ted Cruz Deserves Donald Trump's Birther Scrutiny twitter:description: Until now, being Trump’s lackey has been a smart strategy for Cruz twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f760c3743cc3f54/6988782ecd1bba4ffc6fed86/ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ted Cruz Deserves Donald Trump's Birther Scrutiny > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=bea9c535-3e62-410c-aae1-3781f7a8a759&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Obama's CNN Town Hall Discussion In Under Three Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Obama's CNN Town Hall Discussion In Under Three Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/g9dftZY8.m3u8) (2:43)  _Published 2016-01-08_  by [Elise Jordan](https://time.com/author/elise-jordan/)  ## Elise Jordan Jan 8, 2016 4:47 PM UTC  Ted Cruz listens to a question during a campaign event in Webster City, IO on Jan. 7, 2016. Ted Cruz listens to a question during a campaign event in Webster City, IO on Jan. 7, 2016. Jae C. Hong—AP  by [Elise Jordan](https://time.com/author/elise-jordan/)  ## Elise Jordan Jan 8, 2016 4:47 PM UTC Birther movements in American political life are base, mean-spirited and a distraction from the real issues at stake in a critical presidential election. And I couldn’t be happier that Ted Cruz is getting his moment in the birther sun. I believe in karma. As a reward for Cruz’s self-serving and cynical defense of the worst of Donald Trump, the billionaire bully has launched a birther movement to attack the Canadian-born Cruz as he rises at the polls. Trump now wants a federal court to determine if Cruz, born in Calgary to an American mother, satisfies the “natural born” requirement to serve as president. Though most constitutional scholars interpret this undefined clause in Cruz’s favor, uncertainty is all Trump needs to plow ahead in the court of public opinion. For any other candidate, this scrutiny would be unfair, and it was wrong for Trump to call into question President Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship. But unlike other contenders for the 2016 Republican nomination, Cruz enthusiastically cross-pollinated with Trump and rose in his defense, even [claiming](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/23/republicans-are-blaming-hillary-clinton-for-the-birther-movement-thats-wishful-thinking/) that Hillary Clinton, not the Donald, started the fervor over Obama’s birth certificate. Until now, being Trump’s lackey has been a smart strategy for Cruz: every other candidate who has attacked Trump has, as the Donald loves to brag, precipitously fallen at the polls. (Full disclosure: until the end of 2015, I was an advisor on Senator Rand Paul’s campaign and supported Paul’s decision to aggressively attack Trump’s bullying.) As the primary plodded on this fall and candidates who took on Trump—such as Paul and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush—did so to their peril, Cruz’s Machiavellian allegiance to Trump was maddening. Cruz’s defense of Donald has been his only consistent position, and until now it was galling that it worked. Consider his policy positions and track record in the Senate. Cruz has approached his duties in the U.S. Senate with the zeal of a government bureaucrat determined to play obstructionist politics even against his own party. (Bonus points, Cruz, if you really did wear a diaper for your pointless 21 hour filibuster against Obamacare — you are the [jilted astronaut stalker](http://www.denverpost.com/sitemap/ci%5F5167528) of this cycle.) Because of his calculating intelligence, Cruz could just as easily be a conventional establishment Republican—as he [was](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/us/politics/in-1999-memo-ted-cruz-took-milder-tone-on-immigration.html) in his work on President George W. Bush’s campaign and for his administration—instead of the Tea Party firebrand we see today. That’s why he is scary — because he who stands for nothing only stands for himself. The malleability is apparent in his ever-changing or non-existent policy positions — notably, how he opposed the National Security Agency’s warrantless spying until he voted for the Patriot Act. How over the course of a few months, he went from [declaring his support](http://www.wsj.com/articles/putting-congress-in-charge-on-trade-1429659409) for granting Obama “fast-track” trade authority to suddenly opposing the secrecy of an always-secret deal. Just this week in Iowa, Cruz [decided](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/ted-cruz-ethanol-217417) that ethanol was a really good thing, disavowing his previous calls to end ethanol subsidies. Political office even changed Cruz’s tone on his former “dear friend” Chief Justice John Roberts. In 2005 Cruz [wrote publicly](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/214989/right-stuff-ted-cruz) in support of Roberts and heralded the judge as a “role model” for his staff in the Texas Solicitor’s General Office; in 2015 Cruz [called](http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/ted-cruz-john-roberts-put-on-an-obama-jersey-justices-should) for his resignation from the Supreme Court. It’s a long shot, granted, but there’s a chance I might like Ted Cruz — if only I knew what he stood for. Who is the guy? The politician who advocates “carpet-bombing” civilians — or the man who reads _Green Eggs and Ham_ to his little girls? The candidate who, during his Senate campaign, [attacked](http://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/leppert-dinged-for-attending-pride-parades/) the Dallas mayor — a fellow opponent of same-sex marriage — for attending the city’s gay pride parade, or the fundraising politician who [assures](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/ted-cruz-gay-marriage-secret-audio-217090) a New York City audience that ending gay marriage wouldn’t be a priority? Is he an attorney who [supports](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/ted-cruz-president-obama-stimulus-lawyer) federal stimulus dollars when he’s billing by the hour, or the deficit hawk [claiming](http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/01/politics/ted-cruz-quotes-2016-election/) “there’s a battle over whether we remain a free market nation”? Maybe, just maybe, this national political nightmare on the eve of the Iowa primary will force Ted Cruz to define what he truly believes in before Iowans head to caucus. Or maybe he’ll finally reap the rewards of his cynical, shape-shifting strategy. ## Transcript And the way it is described is that we're trying to take away everybody's guns. And part of the reason I welcomed this opportunity by CNN to have a good discussion debate about it is because our position is consistently mischaracterized. Let me just jump in. Is it fair to call it a conspiracy? I mean, a lot of people really believe this deeply. That they just don't, they just don't trust you. No, no. I'm sorry, yes, it is fair to call it a conspiracy. What are you saying? Are you suggesting that the notion that We are creating a plot to take everybody's guns away so that we can impose martial law. Not everybody, but there's certainly a lot of people. Is a conspiracy? Yes, that is a conspiracy. I would hope that you would agree with that. [ APPLAUSE ] Is that controversial, except on some websites around the country? There are certainly a lot of people who just have a fundamental Distrust that you do not want to go further and further and further down this road. Look, I mean, I'm only going to be here for another year. There's a reason why the NRA is not here. They're just down the street. And since this is the main reason they exist You'd think they'd be prepared to have a debate with the President. They haven't been in the White House for four years. We've invited them. We've invited them. Your message of hope is something I agree with and I think it's great and I think that by creating new laws you do give people hope. The thing is that the laws that we create don't stop these horrific things from happening, right? Cause the people who are murdering. Right. They're breaking the law, but they also don't have a moral code that we have. But I want the hope, the hope that I have the right to protect myself. I think the most important point I want to make is that you will be able to purchase a firearm Some criminals will get their hands on firearms even if there's a background check. But in the same way that we don't eliminate all traffic accidents, but over the course of 20 years traffic accidents get lower. There's still tragedies. There's still drunk drivers. There's still people who don't wear their seatbelts. But over time that violence was re -, reduced and so families are spared. That's the same thing that we can do with gun ownership. There's a way for us to set up a system where you, a responsible gun owner, who I'm assuming, given your your husband, your family is a much better marksman than I am. 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