Ted Cruz and Donald Trump appear to have moved past their contentious campaign, but the Texas senator does not want to become the president-elect's new Supreme Court nominee.
After Cruz spoke with Trump a week after Election Day, he and his chief of staff, David Polyansky, met with Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon and rejected the potential nomination, reports Politico, and has been emerging as one of Trump's key allies in the Senate instead.
"I think the bottom line with Ted is that the monastic life of a Supreme Court justice is simply not something that appeals to him at this stage in his life and that's notwithstanding the fact that he has already in his young legal career established himself as one of the nation's premier Supreme Court advocates," a longtime, unnamed Cruz friend commented. "But being on that side of the lectern is a different thing. He's an advocate, he's passionate about advancing the causes he believes in."
Already, Cruz and Trump are joining forces on key legislation, notes Politico, and Cruz introduced fellow Texan Rex Tillerson to open his confirmation hearings for secretary of State before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Cruz and Trump also share numerous connections among their key staffers. Bannon and Trump's Deputy Campaign Manager David Bossie are longtime friends of the outspoken Texas senator.
Further, Kellyanne Conway, who will occupy a West Wing office as counsel to the president, early in the election, ran a pro-Cruz super PAC and Trump's transition aide, Jason Miller, was Cruz's campaign communications director.
Cruz has already introduced legislation to defund the United Nations in retaliation for its Security Council's resolution against Israeli settlements. Also, reports Politico, Cruz has discussed two other pieces of legislation with Trump's team: a call for term limits and another allowing donors to give unlimited contributions to political candidates on the federal level.
The senator's new standing with Trump may also help his 2018 re-election campaign.
There has been talk that Trump would encourage a primary battle against Cruz, but now, he's eliminated at least one powerful candidate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, by nominating him as secretary of Energy.
But still, Cruz may be eyeing another run at the White House, his friend said, as Cruz will still be a young man in eight years.
"That's another negative to being a Supreme Court justice, it's a lifetime commitment," the friend said. "Ted wasn't ready to lay down his sword and pick up a pen for the rest of his life."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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