Ted Cruz: As Dangerous as Donald Trump

Radicalism and lack of intelligent content dominate the political debate in the U.S. The fact that Donald Trump lost the first important testing of Republican waters is therefore great news.

The good news to come from the first American primary election: Contrary to opinion survey predictions, Donald Trump is not invincible. At any rate, his intolerable hate tirades fell on less sympathetic ears in Iowa than was expected.

But before the celebration gets out of hand, here’s the first of two items of bad news: Ted Cruz, the primary winner, may have a quieter voice than Trump, but his ideas are just as dangerous. Anyone who would suggest carpet bombing as an effective tactic against jihadis in the so-called Islamic State group can’t be taken seriously. And his intention to abrogate the Iran nuclear agreement if he’s elected president is a foreign policy will-o’-the-wisp that makes him unsuitable for the presidency.

That bad news is outdone only by the sobering realization that the voters and the political class in the world’s oldest democracy continue to drift apart. More than 60 percent of Republican voters as shown by the voting results in Iowa still support candidates like Trump, Cruz and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

The fact that radicalism and vacuity meanwhile dominate political discourse in the United States is easily explained. Above all, the white middle class in America continues to suffer the ramifications of the 2008 financial crisis. The only problem now is this: Betting on the extreme solution has yet to ever pay off.