Joe Conason: New York Values: What Tiny Ted Cruz Will Never Get About the Big Town

What does Ted Cruz mean when he sneers about “New York values” as a reason to reject Donald Trump? Disparaging New York has long been a favorite trope for reactionary loudmouths, always with an ugly undertone of bigotry against racial, ethnic, religious and, more recently, sexual minorities. Demagogues denigrating New York come and go with boring predictability—and the nation’s greatest city will continue to thrive long after the Texas senator is merely an unpleasant memory. But in the meantime, his cheap insult tells us much more about him than about his target. Cruz wants to grub New York money and then insult New Yorkers. Since he’s such a tough guy—blustering on about assault weapons and carpet-bombing innocent people far away—he should try running his mouth about New York on the streets of Queens or Brooklyn, and see how that works out. (But no guns allowed, punk.)