Ted Cruz and the 2020 Vision?

Ted Cruz bows out of 2016 race, accidentally elbows wife after speech https://t.co/IL10tXQjo1

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 4, 2016

It is sort of fitting that a candidate who seemed a little less than adept at being perfectly home in a human skin (c'mon, Ted, even a dog can shake hands, as the man said!), who disturbed small children (even his own!)and seemed a little more like an alien who lived on human misery and tinned soup, clocks his wife in the jibs as he ended his awkward campaign on an awkward note. It seems to be who he is--just an awkward, awkward guy who misnames sportsball equipment and strings movie quotes together when he can't make regular talk happen.

There's probably a way to sell this as being humanizing, if Cruz starts now. And I think he did, just a little, when he finally responded to the damn silliness of Cruz, Sr. being a part of the JFK assassination conspiracy by blasting Trump for his unserious repetition of crazy tabloid bullshit. I'm not saying I'd buy Cruz becoming likable--but what the hell--he's probably already had his eye on whether his chances are better in 2020. After all, I've already figured that Cruz is thinking long-range. Why wouldn't he--being I should certainly hope more wrapped up in his political future than your humble blogger is?

After all, although Cruz has bowed out, there's something about having been a figure for #NeverTrump people that I think should encourage him to refrain from coming around to endorsing Trump--after things Trump has said, I'd certainly respect him less if he did. I don't think there's any reason Cruz should a) expect a place for himself in a possible Trump cabinet or even b) put any eggs in the "Trump wins the 2016 race" basket at all.

Frankly, a 2016 win for Hillary Clinton becomes Cruz's best shot--having already proven a capable bomb-thrower with his previous government shutdown hijinks, it's clear that he can sustain a high profile as the face of opposition to Hillary Clinton's velvet-gloved tyranny from his position in the Senate. That, plus a softening of Clinton's image after a regular four-year RW media bombardment gives him a lot to work with. And with Trump having lost to Clinton in 2016 (because this is likely, unless you believe Rasmussen math, and I think they must have hired that Dean Chambers cat...)any hard feelings over his failure to give in for the sake of party unity to Team "Never Say Never" will be forgiven because, as you know, Trump was a loser.

And he never was a real conservative, anyway.

Now, part of me wants to think that calculation will be cancelled out by demographics, and that Cruz might not even win re-election for the Senate. It would count on a really rugged time for a potential President Clinton and a gathering social conservative backlash that is partially presaged by the "religious freedom" and trans bathroom discrimination bills we've been seeing in this cycle. But I can't say it doesn't make a weird kind of sense.

This is not the last we see of Ted Cruz's presidential hopes, folks.