The firebrand senator from Texas is finally ready to deploy a strategy years in the making in a full frontal assault on the 2016 presidential race.

Ted Cruz has stockpiled the necessary armaments to make his march on the top spot in the GOP field. Cruz has the most cash on hand of any Republican contender, with $13.8 million, according to fundraising reports released last Thursday.

The senator is tied for fourth place in the RealClearPolitics polling average, but he has remained in the top tier despite having the third lowest burn rate of the entire 15 candidate field.

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Now, Cruz is prepared to deploy his resources and make his move. The Cruz campaign is reserving television airtime to begin blanketing early states and key Southern states with his message.

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The pro-Cruz Super PAC, stocked over the summer with more cash than any other candidate save Jeb Bush, has begun running evangelical-focused radio ads in Iowa and soon can be expected to launch a full onslaught of TV ads.

Like the scorpion in the desert that starred in his anti-Iran Deal ad, Cruz has bided his time, remaining dangerous, but delaying his strike for the opportune moment.

In 2013, the first-term senator incurred the wrath of the Washington establishment for stirring conservatives to support a government shutdown rather than vote to fully fund Obamacare.

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“It was very evident to everyone in the room that Cruz doesn’t have a strategy — he never had a strategy, and could never answer a question about what the end-game was,” an unnamed GOP senator said of Cruz’s shutdown push, according to an Oct. 2, 2013, report from Politico.

But Cruz did have a plan. The Texas senator was just beginning a years-long effort to define himself as the outsider on the inside.

But Cruz did have a plan. The Texas senator was just beginning a years-long effort to define himself as the outsider on the inside, a man gone to Washington who never lost his convictions and suffered the disdain of his supercilious colleagues for it.

In a 2016 GOP nominating contest so far dominated by neophyte political outsiders, Cruz has uniquely defined himself as an outsider with a record.

By being on the inside — but despised by the insiders — Cruz can make a compelling case for why he needs a promotion to effect real change, and why frustrated conservative voters can trust him to carry the fight into the White House.

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Cruz has buffeted his flamethrower outsider mantle with a matching depth of populist ideas. His public policy encapsulates the substance of the rhetoric that has propelled the to-date success of Donald Trump.

“I think Donald’s campaign has been immensely beneficial for our campaign,” Cruz said in a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Trump has “framed the central issue” of the GOP contest as, “‘Who will stand up to Washington?’” Cruz said.

Cruz’s policies include support for a flat tax to ease the burden on working Americans while eliminating special loopholes for the wealthy and large corporations. He also believes current immigration laws should be fully enforced and that all immigration policy should be made in the context of what is best for American citizens and workers.

Insiders continue to incorrectly predict the imminent demise of Trump and have made similar wishful forecasts of doom for Cruz.

Insiders continue to incorrectly predict the imminent demise of Trump, and have made similar wishful forecasts of doom for Cruz.

“The most interesting question about Mr. Cruz’s candidacy is whether he has a very small chance to win or no chance at all,” read a March 23 analysis in the New York Times.

But with the largest war chest in his campaign coffers, near perfect positioning as an experienced outsider, and a disciplined campaign operation that has so far spent thriftily, Cruz is poised to rock the predictions of the political experts already proven wrong by the continued buoyancy of Trump.

The greatest unknown for Cruz is whether he can be the candidate to crack through the historic success of the political outsiders. No candidate who has yet tangled with Trump has enjoyed subsequent success.

Ben Carson, another political neophyte who hasn’t really crossed swords with Trump, has seen his number rise in recent polls, rather than dip.

Cruz has remained complimentary toward the other outsiders in the race. Whether he starts to go after Trump and Carson or not is now the big question for him and could be the key to his future — and in determining who will be the eventual Republican nominee.