Let Ted Cruz teach you how to be an asshole!!

If Ted Cruz has taught us anything, it is that you can become very successful and powerful by simply being an asshole. Consider a description of his behavior when he was a student at Princeton University:

“It was my distinct impression that Ted had nothing to learn from anyone else,” said Erik Leitch, who lived in Butler College with Cruz. Leitch said he remembers Cruz as someone who wanted to argue over anything or nothing, just for the exercise of arguing. “The only point of Ted talking to you was to convince you of the rightness of his views.” – Daily Beast interview with Cruz’s former classmates.

Like all good assholes, Ted Cruz has not changed. He remains self centered, selfish, and sees others only in terms of how he can use them for self promotion. You would never see Ted Cruz helping out in a soup kitchen. But you would see him in a debate club.

For Cruz, the best thing about honing one’s debate skills is that ethics and morality drop out of the equation. You debate not to seek out effective solutions for things such as how to end economic inequality. You debate to demonstrate your skills in articulating logical arguments. Ted Cruz could not care less if you can’t put bread on the table, or that you can’t afford healthcare, or that you have to decide between paying for food or your electric bill. He only cares about his ability to impress you with the performance art of a good debater.

In other words, Ted Cruz functions without a moral compass beyond his own self promotion. This explains why former house speaker John Beohner referred to Cruz as “Lucifer in the flesh”.

So as you listen to Cruz, imagine him as that asshole who strolled around the halls of his Princeton dormitory in his bathrobe getting in the faces of others for no other reason than to stroke his own ego.