THE CRUZ SLINGSHOT

There is a famous scene in the insanely funny 2006 movie Talledega Nights, where racecar driver Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) performs his Shake N’ Bake move: Slingshot engaged!

As all NASCAR fans know, the “slingshot” is a real racing tactic. Here’s a clip where the #17 yellow/black car drafts then slingshots past the blue car to win the race.

Here’s professional racecar driver Alex Lloyd describing the maneuver:

“Overtaking is a matter of careful planning and executing the timing, mixed with decisive aggression. A pass is constructed many laps in advance by studying your opposition’s strengths and weaknesses. Passing is about patience. You can’t rush it, but at the same time you can’t miss your chance.

When the opening comes to make a move you must do so with 100% commitment. You can’t dither or back out. That’s when crashes occur. If you decide the time is now, then make your maneuver with absolute certainty so the other driver is unequivocally clear that you are coming. If you merely stick your nose down the inside to see if the other driver will turn in or give you room, 90% of the time you will end up touching. Commitment is key.

We all know about the Ricky Bobby ‘Shake N’ Bake’ slingshot. And making use of the draft to complete a pass is crucial. The longer you can stay in the wake of the car you are pursuing the better. With each second your momentum gains and you pick up speed. Then at the very last moment pop out and use the slingshot to assist in getting you alongside and passing your competitor.”

Now let’s re-read that description and apply it to Ted Cruz in his race for the GOP presidential nomination.

The Game of 2016 to watch will be to see just how smart Cruz is. So far he’s been brilliant at delegate and grassroots organizing in Iowa and all over the South, husbanding his money – and in drafting Trump.

While all his other rivals have been suckered by Trump into returning Trump’s juvenile insults and attacks, no bait-taking for Ted. He’s been a genius drafting in the vacuum of air right behind Trump’s lead car. He first honed his drafting skills behind Ben Carson.

Knowing that however admirable and decent Carson is, Cruz also knew he had to falter being so unprepared for a presidential campaign. When Carson did, Cruz was there to pick up the good doctor’s supporters. Cruz never uttered a single criticism of Carson, but when Carson supporters saw he wasn’t up to presidential speed, they slingshotted Cruz past him.

This is precisely Cruz’s strategy with Trump. Just like the lead car at Daytona has to push through heavy air all by its lonesome, Trump has been out front with all the horsepower of his mouth spewing outrageous sound bites, and fueled by voters’ volcanic rage towards lawless Obama and the self-castrated GOP Elite.

Every pundit in DC has been predicting Trump’s imminent collapse in the polls since last summer. Cruz on the other hand understands that, as Alex Lloyd counsels, “passing is about patience… the longer you can stay in the wake of the car you are pursuing the better.”

Cruz is confident that the moment will come when Trumpistas will stop letting their amygdalas turn their pre-frontal cortexes into jelly.

They’ll tire of Trump’s thin-skinned egomania the equal of Zero’s, his inability to explain a problem and its solution in depth rather than an attention-getting soundbite, his lack of actual conservative values and respect for the Constitution – he advocates eminent domain for crony capitalists, he wants his pro-abortion sister to be on the Supreme Court.

They’ll come to realize that Trump would be putty in Putin’s hands. All Putin has to do is stroke Trump’s ego to have Trump purring in his lap – which, in fact, has already happened. That he’s only good at one thing – getting publicity for himself.

Understanding this, Cruz is patiently drafting like Lloyd:

“Overtaking is a matter of careful planning and executing the timing, mixed with decisive aggression. A pass is constructed many laps in advance by studying your opposition’s strengths and weaknesses… When the opening comes to make a move you must do so with 100% commitment. You can’t dither or back out. That’s when crashes occur.”

So we await a moment of high drama – when will Cruz make his move to slingshot past Trump?

He knows that’s the key to the nomination. He’s close on Trump’s rear bumper in the polls because he acquired a lot of Carson people. If he can do the same with Trumpistas… he’s unbeatable, the nomination is his in a cakewalk.

But is the presidency? There’s a way it could be. But this is New Year’s Eve. Time to Party. We’ll discuss how Cruz’s advocacy of America’s Retransformation can put him in the White House in the sober light of New Year’s Day in tomorrow’s HFR.

Have fun tonight! Happy New Year!