After the news of Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign team colluding with Trump, leading up to the New Hampshire primaries, the Texas senator may want to keep his head down for a couple of weeks.
That’s not what he’s doing, however.
After controversy over Trump’s breach of years of diplomatic protocol, by taking a phone call from Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, Senator Cruz tweeted out his support for Trump early Saturday morning.
I would much rather have Donald Trump talking to President Tsai than to Cuba's Raul Castro or Iran's Hasan Rouhani. This is an improvement.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 3, 2016
Ok. I can see the senator is trying to make a point here. It’s not lost. However, a more prudent move, at this juncture, may have been to say nothing, at all.
Trump proudly tweeted out the news of the call, setting off a rumble on Friday night of those who feel the move could strain U.S. relations with China.
In fact, China’s foreign ministry has already filed a formal complaint.
To China, Taiwan is a renegade faction of what they feel is actually Chinese territory. The U.S. has long supported that claim, so for an incoming president to overstep that formal relationship is distressing.
Trump, for his part, doesn’t get what all the fuss is about.
Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2016
That he doesn’t get the delicacy of the issue is the problem.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.