‘Political genius’: Ted Cruz has no hard feelings over Trump’s old ‘Lyin’ Ted’ attack
WASHINGTON, DC: Texas Senator Ted Cruz, in his latest media appearance, clarified that he has no hard feelings against president Donald Trump for old remarks and even branded those moves as ‘political genius.’
Moving past their 2016 bitter primary feud, President Trump and Senator Ted Cruz now maintain a close political alliance and friendly relationship, with Cruz often throwing unconditional support behind the president.
Cruz says Trump’s past remarks against him were ‘genius’
During an appearance on the Hang Out podcast with Fox News Host Sean Hannity, Ted Cruz told the host that he had no hard feelings about President Donald Trump repeatedly bashing him during the 2016 campaign and branding him “Lyin’ Ted,” with the Texas conservative saying it proved Trump was the linguistic equivalent of a martial arts sensei.
“Did it piss you off at the time?” Hannity asked Cruz about the nickname on the Tuesday, Sept 1, episode of his Hang Out podcast.
“No, because I respect the fight,” Cruz said. “It was actually political genius.”
Cruz praised Trump’s ability to understand political messaging, saying he had an “instinctual marketing genius.”
He said his biggest strength during the 2016 race was that voters trusted him and believed he would do what he promised.
Cruz said Trump’s “Lyin’ Ted” nickname was effective because it targeted that very strength.
“Lyin’ Ted,” it was effective, because it literally went to my greatest strength. Like, you do martial arts — it’s jiu-jitsu, it’s using your opponent’s strength against him. It was brilliant.
Trump and Cruz shared bitter relationship a decade ago
Cruz’s comments come years after he and Trump exchanged several verbal attacks during the 2016 campaign.
Trump went beyond the “Lyin’ Ted” nickname and also targeted Cruz’s wife after the senator used a GQ photo of Melania Trump in one of his campaign ads. Trump strongly objected to the ad and publicly attacked Cruz’s wife.
Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!” Trump posted.
Trump followed that up by retweeting a post comparing an unflattering picture of Heidi Cruz with his wife.
“No need to ‘spill the beans,’ the images are worth a thousand words,” the meme was captioned.
The president later said he made a “mistake” by sharing the post.
