Mark Halperin to Cruz: Is Your Refusal to Criticize Trump a ‘Political Calculation’?

Almost every Republican running for president criticized Donald Trump for his comments about John McCain‘s military service, but not Ted Cruz. He praised McCain’s service over the weekend, but wouldn’t say a bad word about Trump.

Cruz sat down with Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin today and reiterated that he won’t engage in “the media’s game of bashing another Republican candidate.”

Halperin called him out and said there’s a difference between gentle criticism and “repudiat[ing] him as a person.” He brought up the criticism that Cruz has said nothing negative about Trump because he wants to be the second choice from Trump supporters.

Halperin asked, “Is this a political calculation?” Cruz deferred and simply insisted that he won’t go into the gutter.

Watch the video below (the relevant part starts at the 13-minute mark), via Bloomberg:

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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