Understanding Ted Cruz

Erica Grieder writes in Texas Monthly an appraisal of Ted Cruz they've entitled "The Field Guide to Ted Cruz." It's based on their reporting on him going back to the time before he entered the Senate. I particularly like what she writes about his intelligence.

I proceed on the assumption that Cruz is smarter than me—not that he’s a superior human who Americans should follow blindly, and not that he’s always right. Just that he’s smarter than me. In practice, that means when Cruz says or does something that doesn’t make sense to me, I ask myself what I’m missing. I take a step back and slowly puzzle through why a very smart person with certain well-documented strategic objectives would do that. Lord knows this is not my usual practice with politicians, but it has turned out to be a surprisingly effective technique for analyzing Cruz. I highly recommend it.

I like "smart."