Cruz as Lucifer: not that it matters…
…but since everyone’s chattering about John Boehner’s description of Ted Cruz vs. Donald Trump, I thought I’d opine.
First, the quotes:
When it comes to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, even a few months’ time out of Congress has done little to lessen former House Speaker John Boehner’s contempt for his former Capitol Hill colleague.
“Lucifer in the flesh,” Boehner told an audience at Stanford on Wednesday night, according to the Stanford Daily. “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”
In fact, Wednesday night was not the first occasion that Boehner has compared Cruz to “Lucifer,” using the epithet last month during a question-and-answer session with reporters at the Futures Industry Association conference in Boca Raton, Florida.
As far as Donald Trump goes, Boehner remarked that he had golfed with Trump for years and that the two are “texting buddies”…
Now, in a logical world, that would be the kiss of death for Trump among his GOPe-establishment-hating supporters. John Boehner, RINO extraordinaire, the man they love to hate and are very happy to have seen driven from his position in the House, hates Ted Cruz (no doubt in part because Ted Cruz called his fellow GOPe leader McConnell a liar on the Senate floor). And Boehner’s buddy-buddy with Trump.
But it won’t be the kiss of death. It will be spun as more evidence of Cruz’s perfidy and Trump’s collegiality.
For what it’s worth, Boehner has called Cruz “Lucifer” before. And the reason he has been saying this—at least according to Rep. Peter King and this article—was because of Cruz’s attempt at a government shutdown.
A government shutdown. The very thing so many of Trump’s supporters profess to have wanted, and are mad at the GOP establishment for not supporting.
It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.
By the way, Boehner’s choice of the term “Lucifer” is interesting. It’s a bit archaic and literary, and has some interesting connotations that are not altogether negative:
Lucifer is the King James Version rendering of the Hebrew word הֵילֵל in Isaiah 14:12. This word, transliterated héªléªl or heylel, occurs once in the Hebrew Bible and according to the KJV-based Strong’s Concordance means “shining one, light-bearer”. The Septuagint renders הֵילֵל in Greek as ἑωσφόÏος (heÅsphoros), a name, literally “bringer of dawn”, for the morning star. The word Lucifer is taken from the Latin Vulgate, which translates הֵילֵל as lucifer, meaning “the morning star, the planet Venus”, or, as an adjective, “light-bringing”.
Later Christian tradition came to use the Latin word for “morning star”, lucifer, as a proper name (“Lucifer”) for the devil; as he was before his fall. As a result, “‘Lucifer’ has become a by-word for Satan/the Devil in the church and in popular literature”, as in Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, Joost van den Vondel’s Lucifer and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. However, the Latin word never came to be used almost exclusively, as in English, in this way, and was applied to others also, including Jesus. The image of a morning star fallen from the sky is generally believed among scholars to have a parallel in Canaanite mythology.
[ADDENDUM: Here’s a 2013 article about one of those games, complete with Trump quotes:
The golf outing took place at Trump’s course in Bedminster, N.J., according to several sources familiar with the pairing.
Trump, who funded what he dubbed an investigation into President Barack Obama’s citizenship, has had nice things to say about Boehner of late. He told the conservative National Review in June that he knows Boehner “very well” and said, “I like John Boehner a lot.”
“I think he’s got a very, very tough job, because he’s got factions within his own party that are pretty diametrically opposed to each other, but I think he’s got the right temperament, and I think he’s a terrific guy,” Trump told National Review. “He’s got to hold things together, and he’s been doing that.”
Trump has helped Boehner-aligned groups. He cut a $100,000 check to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC linked to Boehner.]
Being called “Lucifer” by John Boehner is a badge of honor. Ive been trying to get Boehner to publicly call me Lucifer for months now.
John went to a Catholic schools and Jesuit Xavier. Something the nuns taught him in Cincy.
“I get along with almost everyone,” Boehner said, from “retirement”.
Guys like Cruz spoiled Boehner’s no stress position and made him actually look like he was doing something. Cruz’s crime was no more than that and Boehner had enough trouble with his house conservatives. It looks like those Ohioans will get along with anyone to avoid offending anyone.
But the Trumpkins will of course point to this as just another example of Donalds superpowers in negotiation.
I have had it with Republicans who are more comfortable insulting their own side than Democrats.
Has Boehner ever said something like this about Obama, Hillary, Reid or Pelosi?
*This* is why so many people are behind (the cringeworthy) Trump: at least he knows who the enemy is and is willing to publicly name them. Considering Boehner had kinder words for Trump, does this mean he’d rather Trump be the nominee than Cruz? Or is he just attempting to hasten the Republican implosion and get Hillary elected?
Ugh.
So Trump can play a game of golf without acting like a jerk, and that means he’s a sycophant of the GOPe. Maybe even a minion of the New World Order.
Right, got it.
The problem with the Cruzers is that they insist that Trump be a primitive, two-dimensional cardboard cutout simulation of a human being. And the constant disappointment when this simple-minded view fails to conform to reality results in frustration.
And boy, do they let that frustration show …
It’s interesting that Trump socialized with both the Clintons and Boehner. It was likely business with the Clintons but what does he gain wth Boehner?
tom swift Says at 4:53 pm
“The problem with the Cruzers is that they insist that Trump be a primitive, two-dimensional cardboard cutout simulation of a human being. And the constant disappointment when this simple-minded view fails to conform to reality results in frustration.”
I believe that Neo’s point is exactly the opposite. She is disappointed because Trump is indeed “a primitive, two-dimensional cardboard cutout simulation of a human being” and she is worried about the future of the country with him as the GOP candidate. I believe a shorter description for this type of personality type is sociopathic personality disorder. Sociopaths can be very charming when it suites them like when a business man plays golf with a powerful politician.
Neo:
“Now, in a logical world, that would be the kiss of death for Trump among his GOPe-establishment-hating supporters.”
It’s logical. The Narrative contest for the zeitgeist of the activist game looks like HS debate club, but it’s actually maneuver contest. The alt-Right is establishing their own Gramscian march and, at this stage of the creative destruction, their principal target is conservatives. Cruz is the conservatives’ candidate.
Tom Swift:
Nice strawman you got there.
But I would expect nothing less of you.
You write: “So Trump can play a game of golf without acting like a jerk, and that means he’s a sycophant of the GOPe. Maybe even a minion of the New World Order.
Right, got it.”
Perhaps you have some other blog in mind? Because that’s not what this post says.
This post says that in terms of propaganda and news, logically this should reflect poorly on Trump with the people who are anti-Boehner. And it should reflect well on Cruz with the people who are anti-Boehner. And that the pro-Trump crowd will ignore that and spin it in Trump’s favor in terms of “oh, he gets along with everyone.”
And here you are, right on cue, along with strawman accusations about what was NOT said on this blog.
One more thing—why was Trump playing golf with, and texting, Boehner for years? Do you think it had anything to do with buying influence? Do you think those golf games might have been given to Boehner as perks?
Here’s a 2013 article about one of those games, complete with Trump quotes:
Eric:
See my post right above this one.
Trump said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his fans would continue to support him. The disturbing thing is that there is more than a grain of truth in his statement. Boehner’s statement will make trumpians cheer. It will be proof of his ability to make deals, or some other BS claim.
Too bad Jim Jones is dead, he would make a YUGE VP choice for the donald and bring 100% of the black vote to assure his triumph over hrc or her surrogate.
Strange season.
Parker @ 5:24 PM above: It is worth remembering that before Jim Jones went off to find salvation through mass murder and suicide in the jungles of Guyana he was very well connected with the Democratic political establiment in San Franciso. After all, he was head of a church he named “The People’s Temple”. He preached a message of salvation for the poor whom he taught were being exploited by the racist, sexist, capitalist power structure. To people like Dianne Feinstein and Jimmy Carter he was perfectly simpatico in terms of ideology. On the level of practical politics, not only could he deliver the votes of his congregation he could also turn out a troop of hard working campaign volunteers (no small thing, especially on the level of city elections).
You could probably write a really scary alternate history novel in which Jim Jones was VP in the second Carter administration.
John F. MacMichael:
On Jim Jones.
The Donald has been on the private sector side of the corrupt politics bribery ecosystem – flip side of the Boehner coin.
By resisting and calling out the operators of this corrupt system, Cruz has become their arch enemy. Trumpists have an excuse for supporting such a rotten system – profound ignorance.
And the mainstream media’s excuse? A combination of stupidity and pure old fashioned evil.
Well, wouldn’tcha know it . . .
BEGIN PASTE
Satanists are furious that Boehner compared Ted Cruz to the Dark Lord
Bethania Palma Markus
28 Apr 2016 at 13:40 ET
On Wednesday night, former House Speaker John Boehner bluntly called GOP candidate Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh.”
When asked for his opinion about the Texas senator, Boehner said, “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”
It turns out that the Satanic Temple agrees with Boehner’s sentiments – but they said there’s no way Cruz is the living incarnate of Satan.
When asked by the Friendly Atheist, Satanic Temple spokesman Lucien Greaves bashed Cruz.
“Cruz’s failures of reason, compassion, decency, and humanity are products of his Christian pandering, if not an actual Christian faith,” Greaves responded. “It grows tedious when pedophile priests and loathsome politicians are conveniently dismissed as Satanic, even as they spew biblical verse and prostrate themselves before the cross, recruiting the Christian faithful. Satanists will have nothing to do with any of them.”
The Satanic Temple is comprised of non-theistic activists who eschew religion and adhere to a set of humanistic tenets that promote compassion and reason.
Earlier this week, their Detroit chapter scuttled anti-abortion protests by performing street theater in macabre baby masks, wearing BDSM gear and denouncing “fetal idolatry.”
END PASTE
John F,
I well remember Jim Jones. I made the sarcastic remark because djt is leading a cult, fortunately there will be no kool-aid lines in Guyana. (They think it borders Tanzania.)
(I absent-mindedly omitted the attribution in my 7:59 pm comment, “Satanists are furious that Boehner compared Ted Cruz to the Dark Lord”; here it is, a little belatedly.)
https://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/satanists-are-furious-that-boehner-compared-ted-cruz-to-the-dark-lord/
MJR,
Wow. It reads like something from the Onion.
“in a logical world, that would be the kiss of death for Trump among his GOPe-establishment-hating supporters.”
With the Trumpistas and the MSM, it is a “heads” they win, tails we lose” world.
Logic doesn’t hold water in that one.
Strangely, it is some of the very thing these people were complaining about in 2008, against the Dems and their voters, along with the MSM.
You may want to watch the video of this interview with a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter to know why Boehner and other despise Cruz so much:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOP3a3E2vT4
Interestingly enough, I do take this assessment as fact because we have now seen two obvious ‘stab in the back’ moments with Cruz and his campaign.
1) The lie about Carson in Iowa. It was real. It happened. Cruz claimed he knew nothing about it, but his campaign manager orchestrated it. Never fired the guy.
2) The lie Cruz just told about not having an alliance with Kasich, even though everyone read the simultaneous and similarly-worded press releases last Sunday night.
This is not the kind of person I want. Back stabber. Manipulator. Liar. It goes against everything Cruz claims to be. It was one of the reasons early on (Iowa moment) that I started to reassess Cruz on my list of possibilities.
K-E:
Trump, on the other hand, stabs people in the back repeatedly, and in full public view, so it doesn’t have to be deduced from rumors and innuendos that that’s what he’s doing.
I have read loads about Cruz v. Carson in Iowa and I am convinced there’s no there there.
Trump’s backstabbing—or perhaps it’s frontstabbing, since it’s relatively open—is frequent and goes back decades. It is a very strong part of his personality.
People hate Cruz because (1) he’s not warm and fuzzy (2) he hasn’t sucked up to enough people (3) things like calling McConnell a “liar,” the shutdown, etc.. He threatens the gravy train.
neo,
Can I add a 4th point to your list? (4) Cruz is smarter than they are.
expat:
Agreed.
That’s always a hard one for people to accept.
Cruz is exceedingly smart, but I don’t think he is going to pull this one out of the fire.
Neo…
Ted Cruz may go off in history rather like John Brown.
A man too true — too painfully true — to be tolerated.
( Setting aside the fact that Brown jumped the shark at Harper’s Ferry. )
An interesting aside: What contemporary belief system do we know to be associated with the morning star? I didn’t know the history of the word Lucifer, and when reading that, it sort of jumped out at me.