Ted Cruz Calls Trump's 'Lyin' Ted' Insult 'Brilliant'
Politics is a fickle game. Despite a contentious relationship for years, President Donald Trump is now supported by the very same people that he used to hurl insults at while on the campaign trail. Now, Sen. Ted Cruz is calling Trump "brilliant" for the nicknames he used on his adversaries at the time.
Sen. Cruz Praises Trump for His "Brilliant" Insults
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz recently said that President Trump was "brilliant" for his use of the nickname "Lyin' Ted." Trump famously used the insult to describe Cruz when the two ran against each other in the GOP 2016 presidential election primaries. Cruz made the comments during a September 1 interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. Appearing on the Hang Out with Sean Hannity podcast, Cruz said that he was not mad about the remarks "because I respect the fight."
Hannity cut right to the chase, asking Cruz, "Did it piss you off?" Cruz said that it was "political genius," crediting Trump for what Cruz called his "instinctual marketing genius." Cruz elaborated on his stance, noting that his biggest strength during that race was that voters trusted him.
As such, Cruz said that "‘Lyin’ Ted' was effective because it literally went to my greatest strength… it was brilliant." The long-time senator from Texas also said that Trump's nickname for now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio was "devastating." Trump continually referred to Rubio as "Little Marco" on the campaign trail in an attempt to belittle the candidate who was widely seen as one of Trump's biggest threats on the path to the GOP nomination. Rubio was serving as a senator in the state of Florida at the time.
Cruz launched a largely successful campaign, being distinguished as one of the last few candidates coming down to the wire for the nomination. To be fair to Cruz and Rubio, nobody could have predicted Trump's meteoric rise to power as a businessman with no political experience.
Trump took a no-holds-barred approach to his primary campaign, frequently disparaging the competitors. In addition to insulting the candidates directly, Trump also took shots at their family members. For example, Trump called Cruz's wife ugly and accused the senator's father of being involved in the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.
The cheap shots at Cruz's family members were not discussed on the Hannity podcast.
How the Relationship Between Trump and Cruz Evolved
Sen. Cruz was likely still bitter about the nasty primary campaign when Trump was tapped as the candidate of choice at the 2016 Republican National Convention. The senator refused to offer a formal endorsement to Trump, instead advising voters to vote their conscience.
At the time, Cruz defended his decision to withhold an endorsement from Trump, saying, “I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father.” While Cruz had previously pledged to support the GOP's nominee, he took that pledge back, noting that it “was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi, that I’m going to nonetheless come like a puppy dog and say, ‘Thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father.'"
In the end, Cruz did go on to support Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign, despite all of the animosity between the two. Cruz is now considered to be one of the president's most loyal supporters.
In the interview this week, Cruz admitted that he "came in second." Cruz went on to say that "I had a choice to make because we had now been elected and we had a chance to govern. And so I’ve spent a decade as Donald Trump’s strongest ally in the Senate because we had a job to do.”
During this week's interview, Cruz also revealed that he rejected Trump's offer to appoint him to the U.S. Supreme Court several times. One of these offers was extended shortly after the contentious 2016 election.
Cruz's recent praise of Trump for his disparaging insults is just another example of how those in politics have a short memory.
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