Ted Cruz Believes He Convinced Mitt Romney to Shave His Beard with This Dianne Feinstein Story

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is convinced he influenced Utah Senator Mitt Romney to shave his beard.

On the Monday edition of his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, Cruz complimented Romney’s beard but said certain age groups would not take kindly to the new feature.

“Well, listen, I think Mitt’s beard looks great. He came back from Thanksgiving and he had white stubble covering his face. It’s interesting that his beard is all white. His hair is not all white, but the beard, the beard is,” Cruz began.

“I thought it looked good. And, and so Mitt and I were laughing on the Senate floor. I welcomed him to the club — to the bearded club and said, was glad to have him,” he added.

Romney had explained to Cruz that he didn’t shave over the Thanksgiving holiday and his wife Ann Romney thought it was cute and decided to keep the beard.

“I did share with him a story. I said, ‘Well, you’re gonna find there are different views depending on the generation, and in particular young people, 20 something, 30 something, will love the beard. But there’s another generation, which is typically women in their seventies and eighties who can’t stand it,” Cruz explained.

Cruz continued to elaborated that something about beards reminds older people of the 70’s hippie movement.

“My father had a beard in the seventies, and he shaved it because a woman at church said she didn’t trust men with beards. That they were dishonest. And look, I think that really comes outta the ’60s and ’70s and the hippies. And there’s a generation where they see someone bearded and they think you’re a hippie,” Cruz said.

Cruz recalled a story where he was confronted about his own beard while chatting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) one day.

“And a story I told Mitt, I said… I was talking with Mitch McConnell — and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) came up and Dianne looked at Mitch and said, ‘Mitch, when are we going to get Ted to shave that hideous thing on his face?'” he recalled.

“And I turned to her, I said, ‘Dianne, next thing you know, I’m growing a ponytail. I’m getting Birkenstocks and I’m coming after your base!'” he laughed.

“What’d she say?” asked co-host Ben Ferguson.

“Mitch McConnell cracked up laughing. And Dianne looked at me completely confused and befuddled — it just — she did not understand what I was saying. So I told Mitt that, and apparently that might have scared him too, because the next day, he shaved it — the very next day, he shaved,” Cruz said giddily.

“Well, he didn’t wanna take that kind of heat from Democrats, let’s be honest. He wants to be friends with them. He loves the Democratic base. He loves the liberals liking him. Of course he’s gonna shave the thing,” Ferguson said.

Cruz said after learning that Romney had shaved, he marched into his office and demanded he grow it back.

“I actually went to Mitt that next day and said, ‘Mitt, I want to officially lodge a protest on behalf of all of your grandchildren. That you are denying them a Santa Claus beard right before Christmas and I think it’s wrong. The grandkids are dismayed,'” Cruz concluded.

Listen above via Verdict with Ted Cruz.