A group of conservative leaders have met for what is being billed ‘a secret dinner’ in which they discussed the presidential prospects of Senator Ted Cruz.
Despite coming in second to current Republican nominee Donald Trump, many of these conservative leaders think Cruz can resurrect his political career and ascend to the presidency in 2020.
The dinner was held at the home of the Media Research Center’s president Brett Bozell and featured 20 or so of the conservative movement’s top members, many of whom believe Cruz (who was also in attendance) can follow a similar career path to the late President Ronald Reagan.
Reagan ran an unsuccessful presidential bid in 1976, but came back to win in 1980.
Via the Hill:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) attended a confidential dinner with more than 20 top conservatives on Tuesday night to plan his comeback as a movement leader in the mold of Ronald Reagan.
The dinner was at the Virginia home of conservative activist Brent Bozell, and the agenda was to plot Cruz’s future and the future of the conservative movement.
The undertone of the dinner was about how to position Cruz for a future tilt at the presidency and to spearhead the conservative movement from his seat in the Senate, those in attendance said.
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Many of the leaders at the dinner want Cruz to run for president again, and they are viewing Cruz’s unsuccessful 2016 run as similar to Reagan’s failed attempt in 1976 to unseat the incumbent Republican president, Gerald Ford.
Private conversations with sources at the dinner kept turning up the same analogy: Reagan came back to win the presidency in 1980. And Cruz, they think, can do the same in 2020.
It’s no surprise that top conservative leaders view Cruz in the same vein as Reagan. He was after all, the strongest conservative candidate amongst the field of Republicans this election cycle.
Former Reagan aide and current talk show host Mark Levin supported Cruz, saying he was the best choice when it comes to, “the Constitution, the Republic, individual sovereignty, separation of powers, the Bill of Rights, family, faith, a secure border,” and “our national security.”
Earlier in the campaign season, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh told his millions of listeners that nobody has ever come as close to being like Reagan as Senator Ted Cruz.
“If conservatism is your bag, if conservatism is the dominating factor in how you vote,” Limbaugh explained. “There is no other choice for you in this campaign than Ted Cruz, because you are exactly right: This is the closest in our lifetimes we have ever been to Ronald Reagan.”
Take a listen …
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