Cruz vs. Trump: What was once frightening and tiresome is now immature and childish

Even by Night Twitter standards, this is inane. Though by the interminable election standards it’s par for the horrible, horrible course. Do you know how hard it is to make Ted Cruz, a human spittoon forged in a kiln of farts, look classy? This is a dude whose primary personality trait is abrasive cravenness on a mitochondrial level…. Donald Trump’s campaign team is up at night retweeting rude memes and it’s not even the dumbest thing he’s retweeted in the past four weeks and this man might be our president.

Ah, so this is what competent, inspired leadership looks like, eh? One grown man disparages the wife of another, who responds to- and thus perpetuates- the ridiculousness.

I get that politics is on occasion an ugly business that can become distressingly personal. Anyone cognizant of what Republicans have tried to do to Hillary Clinton over the years understands that. Even so, most of those whose lust for power blinds them to things like simple human decency and courtesy manage to respect the unspoken rule that calls for children and spouses to remain off limits. Ted Cruz has ignored this rule for his own benefit, using his kids in at least one ad. Donald Trump, who wouldn’t recognize human decency if it showed up with knee pads, appears to have no filter or respect for others. The short version is that they’re deeply flawed, immature bullies whose Prime Directive is the advancement of their own interests above any and all other things.

If the two remainder significant contenders for the GOP nomination choose to get into a pissing match, that’s on them. It says a lot about both candidates- nothing good, to be certain- that they’d engage in such public displays of immaturity and childishness.

I understand the power of testosterone and the perceived need to defend the impugning of someone you love. If someone insulted my wife, my hackles would go up as well. I’m not running for President, though…which makes me question the maturity and temperament of both Cruz and Trump. If something this petty gets under their skin so quickly and easily, how will they react when tested by Russia, China, or North Korea?

Both men are running for an office that requires the person holding it to be capable of sober, calm, and rational reflection under tremendous stress. International diplomacy doesn’t run well on a diet of bloviation and petty chest-thumping. A President must be able to rise above the fray. They must be capable of resisting the urge to take things personally and respond in kind. It’s unrealistic to expect a President to not have human emotions or hot buttons like anyone else, but the sort of pissing match Cruz and Trump are currently engaged in demonstrates that neither possesses the maturity or temperament to sit behind the big desk in the Oval Office.