Trump Bludgeons Ted Cruz With Mockery About How Much His Fellow Senators Hate Him

President Donald Trump bludgeoned Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to his face during remarks he delivered Wednesday afternoon, suggesting that if he nominated the senator to the Supreme Court, he’d get “100 percent” of the vote from both Democrats and Republicans because they want to “get him the hell out.”

Trump was speaking in Washington, D.C. about savings accounts he wants to launch for children in the U.S. During his speech, the president meandered through mentioning various people, including several Republican elected officials who were in the audience — including Cruz.

Cruz “is a friend of mine,” said Trump, but “you wouldn’t believe that, because we went through a rough campaign together — it was nasty!”

But now, Trump continued, they got along much better:

We get along so well and everybody — we actually did joint rallies, can you believe it? He wanted to get some of the action, so he’s smart. He said, “Would you do a rally with me?” But we did joint rallies and the press used to say, “Will you ever start fighting?” I said, “Don’t worry, it’ll come.” He said the same thing, “Don’t worry, it’ll come.” He is a very tough guy. Very brilliant guy.

I had never gone into a debate before, officially. My whole life was a debate, but I never officially debated before, officially. I said, “Let me find out about my competition, who are these people?” Many of them, they were senators and — mostly senators and governors.

And I said, “Well, why don’t we start with this guy named Ted Cruz.” Well, he was the best student at Harvard, number one in his class, he was the best student at Princeton or something, and he was the national debate championship for three years. I said, “Well, I don’t like that.” I didn’t know that. I don’t like that.

And he was a very good debater, I will tell you that. He was a smart guy. I will never forget, because he was the first one I looked at. I had just joined the ranks of politics and the first famous — it was the Rosie O’Donnell, remember that, only Rosie O’Donnell? Ireland, you can keep her. Ireland has done us a tremendous — the head of Ireland said, “Are all your people this way? We don’t want that.”

Trump took a moment to acknowledge that he has sometimes had trouble getting his nominees through the Senate confirmation process, but Cruz had a key advantage there:

But Ted Cruz has one thing, if I ever have problems — it is hard to get people through. He is a brilliant legal mind, he’s a brilliant man. If I nominate him for the United States Supreme Court, I will get 100% of the vote.

The Democrats will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out and the Republicans will vote for him because they want to get him the hell out, too.

Where’s Ted? Where are you, Ted? With all of that being said he is a great guy, too. He’s a great guy. We have become friends and he’s a very effective person, too. Thank you, Ted, very much.

Trump’s remarks were reminiscent of a joke Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told about Cruz at the 2016 Washington Press Club Dinner.

“If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you,” said Graham.

Watch the clip 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!