On Campaigns Circulating Sleaze

During the Easter weekend, there was sturm und drang over a racy National Enquirer hit piece on Republican Presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) which alleged that he had five mistresses.  This was a curious charge as Cruz detractors had previously pushed perspectives that Cruz was an earnest evangelical political geek with no game.  Now we are to believe that Cruz was the ultimate player, juggling call girls, co-workers and teachers. Right (sarc).

If one looks more closely at the tabloid sensationalism on Cruz, there are some telltale signs of a political hit piece. The National Enquirer could not get any of the accusers to publicly step forward. However, the graphics showed five women with eyes blocked out.  One of the alleged victims outed by the National Enquirer was Katrina Pierson, the Trump national campaign spokesman.  Curiouser and curiouser.

Katrina Pierson did  work on Cruz' 2012 Senate campaign.  But Pierson developed a reputation of being an erratic spotlight seeker who had a grudge that the Texas Senator would not endorse Pierson in her bid to unseat Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX 32nd) in the 2014 primaries. Kind of convenient for an anti-Cruz activist to sidle herself with Trump and be exploited in an adulterous allegation.

Another supposed victim of Cruz's infidelity "cruising" based on National Enquirer photos is Amanda Carpenter, Cruz's former Senate Press Secretary and political pundit who supports Ted Cruz. There have been loads of libelous innuendo and accusations launched against Carpenter.  Carpenter eviscerated an on camera ambush by Trump surrogate Adriana Cohen on CNN. But that has not stopped Trump trolls on social media from smearing Carpenter.  It must be another isolated incident of spurious slut shaming by Trump types.

A third mythical mistress of Cruz was said to have ties to Carly Fionina's campaign and previously worked for Mitt Romney.  This allowed Trump-eteers to claim that Fiorina was bought off in a "sweetheart deal" and Fiorina's support was tainted. 

While Trump claims that he did not start this rumor but it was "little" Marco Rubio's henchmen, that isn't the whole story.  It's true that this Cruz affair allegation had been shopped to the media for months, no one bit because it was preposterous. Yet when Trump started sagging in the polls, Trump's good buddy National Enquirer CEO David Pecker, decided to push the piece.  Hence the Twitter hashtag #TrumpLovesPecker which went viral on Good Friday.

[L] GOP Presidential Hopeful Donald Trump [R] National Enquirer CEO David Pecker 

Trump tried his modus operendi of being the paralepsis politician who brings up scandal allegations by others and hopes that they are not true, while simultaneously spotlighting the smear.  This time, the lamestream media, who have been pandering to the Trump chaos circus for huge ratings and picking a weak GOP nominee, isn't playing along like normal.  Meet the Press host Chuck Todd noted that Trump seemed more likely to have planted the story than any truth to the charge on Cruz.

What is really curious that Trump types seize upon infidelity allegations against Cruz when their dear leader has bragged about his many affairs with married women as well as his misogynistic musings. 

Some Trump supporters  have bragged about how Trump will redefine culture.  This is manifest in championing political incorrectness and political pugnaciousness. But the attempted troll party takeover of the GOP seems to be more than just about anger and animus against progressivism. There are overtones of the politics of personal destruction and intimidation against opponents. Celebrating campaigns circulating sleeze is seeking power without principle and it epitomizes much of what is objectionable about Trump's campaign.