Donald Trump’s brash new take on a campaign for the White House has been stealing headlines for months, and many of those headlines have been based on Trump’s barbs tossed in the general direction of Ted Cruz. The Donald has pulled out all the stops against the man once considered a favorite for the Republican nomination, bringing his Canadian heritage and allegedly suspect citizenship to the forefront of debates and talking points in the media. The campaign trail is a nasty place, but this laser-focus on mudslinging is unprecedented in American politics, and it has created one of the most fascinating political feuds since Burr versus Alexander (or maybe a basic cable version of Buckley versus Vidal).
Super Tuesday is underway with Cruz and Trump metaphorically duking it out at polling sites across the nation, so now is a good time to look at the history of their feud. One that Cruz opted out of for a long while, but recently decided to engage in with near-constant digs at Trump’s persona, politics and antics.
The smart money’s on these two continuing their rivalry well into the future, and possibly while one is in the White House and the other continues his work in the Senate.