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Both Trump and Cruz owned by GOP establishment: Analyst

Wednesday, 20 January 2016 4:17 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 24 January 2016 10:06 AM ]

US Presidential contenders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are both owned by the Republican Party, DeBar says.

GOP rivals Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are both “owned” by the Republican Party and the vetting process designed to choose one of them is nothing but a “segmented marketing effort,” says Don DeBar, an American political analyst and radio host.

Texas Senator Cruz suggested on Tuesday that the Republican Party is making a concerted effort to side with Trump over him in the race to represent the party in the 2016 presidential election.

The remarks came after Iowa Governor Terry Branstad urged voters not to vote for Cruz in the upcoming primary election, an act Cruz described as “cronyism.”

“Cruz says the establishment is against him and in favor of Trump, and he talks about it as cronyism, trying to reposition Trump,” who represents a trademark and a business interest, DeBar told Press TV on Wednesday. “[Trump] is a trademark that has value; he has tried to position himself as an outsider in opposition to the interests that he is the face of.”

He explained that the same people who contribute to Cruz’s campaign also contribute to the New York billionaire’s campaign.

“What you are seeing in what is called the Republican primary, and the Democratic primary as well, is not a political competition between interest groups in the United States, it has an element of that but it is not determinate at all,” the analyst stated.

Referring to the previous primaries, DeBar said that the outcome has always been one thing: “the power elite will own whoever comes out."

He described the primaries as a “segmented marketing effort” to see which candidate the American public will “swallow” more easily.

“So we are getting a little slice of reality from Cruz right now, as he calls Trump a little bit on who he is, [however] he can’t make a thorough critique because he would be critiquing himself and all the others if he did,” DeBar said.

“It is only because Cruz is feeling the heat right now and there will be a point in time when he starts to tell too much truth that he either won’t have a camera pointed at him anymore or he will just be told to shut up,” he added.

A RealClearPolitics daily average national poll on January 15 showed Trump had 34.5 percent of the vote, Cruz 19.3 percent.

Later on that day, the two candidates ended a longstanding truce during the sixth GOP presidential debate in their sharpest and most personal encounters of the presidential race.

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