Book: Cruz Said ‘Something Fundamentally Wrong’ With Evangelicals Who Voted Trump

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 19: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol January 19, 2018 in Washington, DC. A continuing resolution to fund the government has passed the House of Representatives b... WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 19: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol January 19, 2018 in Washington, DC. A continuing resolution to fund the government has passed the House of Representatives but faces a stiff challenge in the Senate. (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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In a new book on the 2016 campaign, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had some pointed words for evangelicals who supported then-candidate Donald Trump.

“If you’re a faithful person, if you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, emerged from the grave three days later and gives eternal life, and you’re supporting Donald Trump, I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with you,” he said according to Politico Magazine chief correspondent Tim Alberta book “American Carnage” obtained by the New York Times. 

Trump reportedly had such animus for Cruz at the time that he called the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party after the Texas senator won the caucuses, asking him to “publicly disavow” the results. The chairman, Jeff Kaufmann, said he could not do that.

Trump’s connections at the National Enquirer also came into play, with David Pecker trying vigorously to dig up dirt on Cruz.

Trump eventually secured the nomination after the Indiana primary and Cruz has since become a fairly dependable Trump ally, voting with the President about 92 percent of the time according to FiveThirtyEight.

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for pck53 pck53 says:

    Well Rafael, actually there is something wrong with you
    Drumpf insulted your wife and implied that your father was involved in the JFK assassination, yet you are still supporting him.

  2. There are photos of Cruz working the phones for Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.

  3. Avatar for jtx jtx says:

    He is right of course, but he caved to his political need.

  4. There’s something wrong with believers who support Trump.
    Cruz is a believer.
    He supports Trump.
    Ergo…

  5. What @pck53 and @paulitical said. The mystery–and enormous frustration–to me is how these GOPers know, intellectually and subjectively, that Trump is the worst possible kind of human being to make the head of a political entity, and yet they kowtow, they bootlick, they look the other way(s) and say, “Well, what about,” etc. For someone like McConnell, some basically ignore Trump in service to a larger agenda (stacking the judiciary, money-grub for their home states); some are afraid of their electorates (in which case, they’re political cowards).

    Someone like Cruz, though, with plenty of cause to not just despise Trump but to speak out against him, chooses not to. And he’s not the only one, in either the Senate of the House.

    So here we are.

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