MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Thursday provided a candid assessment of Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) first year in Washington, reflecting on an awkward encounter she had with the Texas Republican several months ago.
The longtime journalist said during an appearance on “Morning Joe” that Cruz is guided by his presidential ambitions, not a desire to legislate.
“Ted Cruz’s strategy is that he wants to be either a presidential nominee or part of the presidential process,” Mitchell said. “He has no strategy to get along and make friends and produce legislation in the Senate.”
Mitchell then recounted Cruz’s appearance on “Meet the Press” in January, saying that the senator was non-too-pleased with her analysis of the interview.
“I was on ‘Morning Joe’ at 6:00 in the morning the day after his first appearance on “Meet the Press” back in January. He had just been elected and he was trashing everyone else and being very rude to Chuck Schumer who was saying, you know, ‘my new colleague from Texas,’ ‘the gentleman from Texas.’ on ‘Meet the Press’ the morning before,” Mitchell said. “And I said this is a different kind of senator. He then came up to me at a Washington dinner a week later and said that I was rude to him on ‘Morning Joe.'”
But she added that the strategy is “working for him so far.”
