We are now 54 days out from the 2018 mid-term elections. Last night the Democrat challenger to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was in New York for some fundraising and made a guest appearance on the Late Night with Stephen Colbert show. Hollywood loves Rep. Beto O’Rourke and would love for him to bring in the big blue wave in Texas this year. His campaign uses an endorsement from Ellen DeGeneres on social media, for example. She doesn’t live in Texas, of course, but she endorses him.

In a smart move, going on offense instead of playing defense, the Cruz campaign bought ad time during Beto’s appearance on the Colbert show in several Texas media outlets, including El Paso, O’Rourke’s hometown. Amarillo, Waco, and San Antonio were the other media markets.

Colbert included the ad buy in his monologue Wednesday night. He called the move a sign of how “scared” Cruz is in his campaign for re-election. The television host also mocked the campaign’s ads against O’Rourke that focus on his past, such as his party days and his time playing music with a band. Admittedly, those ads are not the best political ads ever run, but they did begin the conversation about O’Rourke’s checkered past. At a time when Beto is being hyped as the great savior for the Democrats in Texas, he has been elevated to a level that would imply he’s a perfect guy. Turns out he’s as human as the next, including past behavior in younger days that exhibited less than great judgment.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the ad buys during the Colbert show is a part of a massive statewide buy coming in the next week. Hey, he’s got money coming in from the establishment types Cruz loves to bash now that Republicans are concerned about the race. “Hundreds” of ads are coming. Oh boy!

Naturally, it is reported that O’Rourke “charmed” the show’s audience during the interview portion of his appearance. He’s so progressive and all.

Later, when O’Rourke sat down with Colbert, he charmed the Late Show audience with his unabashedly progressive positions, including his opposition to Trump’s border wall. Asked what he makes of the president “joining forces” with his one-time enemy Cruz against him, O’Rourke said, “The people of Texas are more than a match for President Trump or for politics as usual.”

The truth is this, though. Rep. Beto O’Rourke is a standard, middle of the road Democrat from El Paso who is now running as a full-blown leftist in order to appease the anti-Trump voters. He has been in the House of Representatives since 2012 and has not advanced further than back-bencher status. He is all about adopting the rhetoric of the most hyperbolic #Resistance claims in standard interviews now, particularly when the Hollywood crowd is watching.

“People are coming out at this moment of truth,” he said. “They’re going to help us decide as a country, are we a nation of walls? Will we ban all Muslims or all people of one religion? Will we describe the press as the ‘enemy of the people’? Will we take kids away from their parents when they’re trying to claim asylum, fleeing from the most brutal countries in this hemisphere, if not the planet?”

It’s all about illegal aliens, legalizing DREAMers, and Islamophobia, you see. Oh yeah, let’s not forget he’s all in for “universal, guaranteed, high-quality health care for everyone.” All of the boxes must be checked.

“Trump says he will campaign for Cruz, despite the fact that they just despise each other,” Colbert said. “Is it surreal to see enemies joining forces against you?” “Yeah, this is gonna be interesting,” O’Rourke said. He endorsed citizenship for DREAMers and “universal, guaranteed, high-quality health care for everyone,” but said “we’re running not against anyone or anything or any other political party, we are running for this country.”

Real Clear Politics still scores the race as a toss-up with Senator Cruz up by 3.2 points.

I’ll leave you with this nugget from the show. In O’Rourke’s fantasy world, there is no violent crime from illegal aliens, especially not in his hometown. He “strongly” opposes the border wall.