Cruz: We Have Harry Reid to ‘Thank’ for Trump’s ‘Strong Conservative’ Cabinet

Thursday on the “Hugh Hewitt Show,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said conservatives have retired Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), who when he was majority leader altered the Senate rules to allow presidential nominees be approved by a simple majority of 51 instead of the traditional 60 votes, to thank for President-elect Trump’s cabinet of “strong conservatives.”

Cruz said, “That’s what Reid did, is inquired of the chair what’s the rule for executive nominations, for judges, not Supreme Court. The chair answered 60 votes. Reid appealed the ruling of the chair, and the Democrats bloc voted together as a party to overturn that, and that ruling then becomes a precedent, which is treated like a new rule. And you know, I’ll tell you, it was interesting, Hugh, when that happened, Mike Lee and I and a number of others were discussing it at the time. And we were chuckling, and saying Harry Reid and the Democrats are going to come back just and sorely regret this. And I remember Mike and I predicted, I said this will result in more judicial nominees like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, and it will result in much more conservative Republican cabinet nominees, and the reason is simple. Look, on the last, the Democrats really don’t self-censor.”

“I mean, they will nominate the most whacked out, left wing nominees they can find,” he continued. “I mean, they’re already putting up, you know, darn near Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. So they don’t constrain and Republicans like the dutiful and sometimes gullible opposition typically will conform no matter what lunatic they nominate. On the right, Republicans historically have self censored, have moderated, have looked for ‘who can get 60 votes, who can we get Democrats to…’ By Reid blowing up the rule and lowering it to 51 — one of the reasons I believe President-elect Trump’s cabinet is as conservative as it is, and I’m very very encouraged by the number of strong conservatives in this cabinet — is precisely because Reid blew up the rule and lowered the threshold to 51, which means the Trump transition team isn’t sitting there on every nominee and saying how do we get to 60. I think it would have likely changed the contours of the cabinet considerably and we have Harry Reid to thank for that.”

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