The Heidi Game

Ted Cruz's public actions betray those of a man who does not consider himself an insider, but very much wants to be proclaimed as the adopted scion of the Establishment. By far he is not the first man to be in those shoes, and sometimes in the past they were filled by men who through pluck and marriage, were successfully at establishing their family lines as future members of the ruling class (although they themselves remained as junior insiders).

But Cruz is not even there yet. He is yet an outsider. He has had to hustle to get where he is, including adopting Texas as his home, a method of legitimacy used exactly the same way by the Bush family. But he is not trusted by them, and it is too late in life for him to become a true insider member of the elite. He has certainly given his children the opportunity to marry into the high elite, however, which is the traditional way in which junior families ascend to higher status. The key is that it must play out over several generations.

For this and other reasons, Cruz is reminiscent in his career of Richard Nixon, another outsider who was semi-adopted by the elite but never allowed to become a full member. Nixon's fate (ignominious downfall at the hands of the Establishment itself) should be a reminder of what happens to those who are not fully in the circle of power, when they are no longer useful to the Establishment.

Cruz's best play so far has been his marriage to Heidi Nelson, who is a fully-made insider (of junior rank), and who has played all the right cards in her life to become a member of the circle of power. In the Establishment eyes, she would make a far more acceptable candidate than her husband.

In some ways she is the perfect Republican counterpart of Hillary Clinton---the last one standing, holding up that wing of the Establishment.