One of our favorite GOP politicians is none other than Senator Ted Cruz. The conservative from Texas is very special. We greatly admit his ability to twist himself into pretzels to posture himself for the election that he will never win. Ted Cruz wants to be your president so much that he can very conveniently forget votes he made a few short years ago.

The same party that gave President Obama fits with the Tea Party revolution against government spending passed the biggest deficit-busting piece of legislation in American history. The tax cut scam for the wealthy and corporations pushed the government budget deficits up past $1 trillion and took away any type of financial flexibility that government has to deal with a crisis like the one we have today. Dick Cheney used to say that "deficits don't matter." We can amend that statement a little bit to say that deficits do matter when the party in power starts with a "D." Other than that, they do not when it comes to tax breaks for the wealthy.

Ted Cruz Says "Hell No"

So where does our favorite Senator from Texas who spends his time playing at the "basketball ring" come into this? Now that the Senate GOP is trying to negotiate with itself to come up with an alternative to the Heroes Act passed by the House, Cruz has suddenly found religion again on the issue of deficits. He is seeking to limit the size of the next stimulus package because he is concerned about the effect that it would have on the deficit.

Of course, Cruz's corporate buddies got taken care of in the CARES Act with the massive tax breaks for the rich that Mitch McConnell stuck into the bill hoping that nobody would notice. Now, the next phase of stimulus will be to help households that are still struggling where people are out of work. These households are facing eviction from their homes because they cannot pay their rent or mortgage. This next stimulus package should also be aimed at helping states and municipalities fill the giant holes in their budget that the increased costs of dealing with COVID-19 and reduced tax revenues have left.

We also love Cruz's ability to talk tough like a Texan. When he wants to sound real tough, he will add a "hell" on to his no to seem like he actually has principles. Now, Cruz suddenly cares about the deficit. He cares about it so much that he is not just a "no" on a larger bill, but he is a "hell no." The same Ted Cruz who came crawling on both knees to a man who called his wife ugly and implied that his father was involved in the JFK assassination is now back to playing the tough guy.

Cruz Has His Eye on 2024

With Cruz, there is usually something bigger at play and it has to do with a certain round office that he will never win. Ever the opportunist, Cruz is now looking ahead to 2024 and his inevitable second run at the White House. Ted Cruz is a lot of things, but he is not a dumb man. He sees that Trump is likely heading towards a blowout loss, and he is looking towards the next four years and the way to build his brand.

Cruz remembers that he came to power as a result of the Tea Party protests. He conveniently rode that horse until he got off to hop on the Trump horse. Now, sensing that Trumpism is about to head into the dustbin of history, Cruz thinks that he will lead the opposition to Biden's program as part of a renewed Tea Party assault on governance.

He sees Nikki Haley as the leader of the Establishment wing of the party and Tom Cotton or Mike Pompeo vying for the support of the Trumpists. Cruz is trying to recreate the deficit-hating Tea Party wing to ride to the Republican nomination. This gets us back to the amnesia that Cruz is demonstrating by suddenly claiming that deficits matter when it comes to spending but they make no difference when it comes to tax cuts for the rich. However, the one thing that you can count on is that you have not heard the last of Ted Cruz until he is on the stage at the Republican National Convention giving an acceptance speech.