After the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the political world is abuzz with a new passion of divisiveness. Republican presidential candidates immediately jumped on his death as a means to claim that President Obama has no right to put forth a nominee to take his place on the highest court and Ted Cruz led the charge.
Justice Scalia was an American hero. We owe it to him, & the Nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next President names his replacement.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 13, 2016
It's not like this election cycle needs any more juice to get this party started, mind you, but his passing has fueled Cruz even more with Armageddon like analogies to energize his religious right base.
Here's the Texas Senator on Meet The Press, telling Chuck Todd that if Bernie, Hillary or even Donald Trump wins the election, America will be destroyed for all gun loving Christians.
SEN. TED CRUZ:
It has been 80 years since a Supreme Court vacancy was nominated and confirmed in an election year. There is a long tradition that you don't do this in an election year. And what this means, Chuck, is we ought to make the 2016 election a referendum on the Supreme Court. I cannot wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders and talk about what the Supreme Court will look like depending on who wins.
If Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders wins, or for that matter, if Donald Trump wins, whose record is indistinguishable from them on a great many issues, then we will see the Second Amendment written out of the constitution. And another thing we'll see, and this is very relevant for conservatives in South Carolina. If Donald Trump is the nominee, or if Hillary Clinton is the president, we will see unlimited abortion on demand throughout this country, partial-birth abortion, taxpayer funding, no parental notification. And we'll also see our religious liberty torn down, our basic rights.
Obviously everything he said was overblown hyperbole that isn't rooted in reality, but as he's been called by some people, Cruz is the single biggest liar and a really nasty guy in this election cycle.
No Democratic politician wants to erase the second amendment or sell body parts to Walmart, but as Cruz moves on, you can bet that he'll gin up the end times references that applies to the Supreme court.
Via Chris Hayes, Cruz already has released a Trump attack ad. That was fast.
Cruz camp out with a SCOTUS-focused attack ad on Trump https://t.co/exfSRuY1Hy
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) February 15, 2016