‘A Very Good Guy’: Trump Praises Ted Cruz After Being Asked About Potential 2028 Campaign

President Donald Trump offered Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) praise after being asked about Cruz’s prospective 2028 presidential campaign on Monday.

Axios reported on Monday morning that “Ted Cruz is laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential bid by leaning into his feud with Tucker Carlson — and staking out turf as a traditional, pro-interventionist Republican.”

“By poking at Carlson’s isolationist foreign policy views, accusing him of antisemitism and more, Cruz is putting himself on a collision course with Vice President [JD] Vance, a Carlson ally widely seen as the 2028 GOP frontrunner,” added reporter Alex Isenstadt.

Trump was asked about the report during an Oval Office Q&A on Monday afternoon:

REPORTER: There was some news this morning from an Axios report that Senator Ted Cruz was laying the groundwork for a potential 2028 presidential run. Could I get your reaction to would, could you see yourself supporting?

TRUMP: Well, he’s a friend of mine. I mean, no I haven’t spoken to him about it. It’s a little early. It’s three and a quarter years, it’s a long time. But he’s a very good guy. He’s a very good friend of mine. You remember, we had quite a campaign against Ted and it worked out quite nicely. Well see, where are we? Oh, we’re in the Oval Office. But I’m not that surprised to hear that.

On the campaign trail during their 2016 fight for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump referred to Cruz as “Lyin’ Ted,” although he later amended the moniker to “Beautiful Ted” and campaigned on Cruz’s behalf.

Cruz has been very critical of Carlson and other purveyors of anti-Semitic ideas in the Republican Party, while Vance counts Carlson as an ally.

“This poison of anti-Semitism on the right, it is spreading with young people. It is gaining traction,” declared Cruz in a speech last month. “But I will tell you, there is a movement among Christians, particularly young Christians. The public polling numbers of support for Israel among young Christians is plummeting. And they’re being spread lies. They’re being spread lies, isolationist lies that we should withdraw from the world because nobody wants to hurt us. But they’re also being spread theological lies.”

Watch above via Fox News.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!