The MSM have tended to lump the Trump and Sanders campaigns together, but the real analogy is between Sanders and Cruz: both are sitting senators with no following in their respective parties; both are running campaigns that are heavy on ideology, as opposed to personal awesomeness; both are relying on their ability to mobilize disaffected voters; and both have strong (but opposite) views about the role of the federal government in our everyday lives.
After the Flint debate, we know they have something else in common; they both despise “crony capitalism.” How did that happen, and what does it mean?
For Cruz, a Conservative Libertarian, opposition to governmental support for business is an integral part of his political philosophy. The outlying parts of his platform are his anti-immigrant stance and his objections to the TPP; you can probably attribute them to opportunism (or pragmatism, if you put it in a more favorable light). In Bernie’s case, however, there can be no philosophical objection to entangling the state in business, so I can only attribute his views to a loathing of businessmen and a failure of nerve. The most logical position for him to take relative to large businesses is nationalization, but he knows that is a non-starter, so he takes out his frustration on business leaders by trying to cut them down to size.