April 19, 2018

Ted Cruz’s Blurb on Trump as One of Time’s Most 100 Influential People Is … Something

Quite the flip flop!

Michael Brochstein/Zumapress

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Since Donald Trump and Ted Cruz first faced off in the Republican presidential primaries in 2016, the president has repeatedly and sometimes viciously attacked the Texas senator. He accused Cruz’s father of assisting in the assassination of JFK, cruelly mocked Cruz’s wife, and, as is the president’s habit, gave Cruz a derogatory nickname, “Lyin’ Ted.”

Cruz, in turn, has not held back in his criticisms of Trump. He’s called him a “narcissist,” “utterly amoral,” and a “pathological liar.” And after dropping out of the the primary, he famously refused to endorse Trump, even during his speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention. From the convention stage, he asked the crowd to “vote your conscience.” 

But that all must be water under the bridge, right? On Thursday Time published its list of the 100 most influential people, and, it turns out, Trump’s one-time foe actually penned the blurb about the president’s inestimable power and influence. Cruz calls Trump “a flash-bang grenade thrown into Washington by the forgotten men and women of America.” He continues, “The fact that his first year as Commander in Chief disoriented and distressed members of the media and political establishment is not a bug but a feature.” 

Twitter had a field day with Cruz’s effusive praise: 

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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