5. Cruz's campaign is built on the populist, anti-establishment narrative. That is how he won his Senate race in the first place and why it was a good reason for him to conceal the loan at a critical time in that race. ("Mr. Cruz, a conservative former Texas solicitor general, was campaigning as a populist firebrand who criticized Wall Street bailouts and the influence of big banks in Washington. It is a theme he has carried into his bid for the Republican nomination for president.") It would have highlighted his immense hypocrisy, in other words. He is still running on the theme of battling influence-peddling and special favors for the rich ("(T)he problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington"). As a GOP Senate staffer put it, "It's amazing that this guy can rail against crony capitalism when he is one of its biggest beneficiaries."