Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) already wrote the first book on the Republicans’ midterm election crash ― in a tweet.
But ensconced in those nearly 2,000 words of lament and “I told you so’s” posted on X Wednesday, Cruz slammed President Donald Trump.
He had just finished pointing out that plasma donations reached into the tens of millions so Americans could pay for their groceries.
“That is very real pain from real Americans, and too many Republican politicians seem like they didn’t understand or they didn’t care,” he wrote in a general dig at his party. “Food is too high, gas is too high, diesel is too high, insurance is too high, life is too high.”
But in the next 40 or so words he appeared to specifically criticize Trump.
“Tariffs have made everything too expensive, and the Iran war has dragged on too long,” he wrote. “It should have been brief, decisive, and over. It needs to end, and we should never, under any circumstances, give the Ayatollah billions of dollars.”
The tariffs and Iran war were initiated by the president.
Cruz was careful not to name Trump ― perhaps as a diplomatic weasel to stay in the president’s good graces in case the senator runs again for president.
Even as he recently recounted his and Trump’s insult jousting during the 2016 campaign, he couched it carefully. Recalling Trump’s “Lyin’ Ted” moniker for him, Cruz said, “Oh, yeah! Which I will admit was politically very effective. Look, the man has an instinctual genius. What was so effective about it was my single strongest attribute was that the voters trusted me. … The jujitsu of Trump was to take my greatest strength and make an attack that goes right at it, and I think he does that instinctually in a very effective way.”
In August, Cruz declared, “It’s no secret that I want to be president,” but he has yet to commit despite reportedly recruiting workers for a potential campaign.