WATCH: Crowd Laughs Out Loud at Ted Cruz Claiming He’s Never Seen a Presidential Speech as ‘Unhealthy’ as Biden’s on MAGA

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on Saturday said that he’s never seen a president give as “unhealthy’ a speech as the one President Joe Biden gave in Pennsylvania earlier this month, a remark that drew quite a reaction from the Texas Tribune Festival audience.

Cruz was one of many politicians on the TribFest stage from Thursday through Saturday in Austin, and during his hour on stage drew laughs from the crowd several times. Just not always on purpose.

Speaking with author and journalist David Drucker of the Washington Examiner, Cruz remarked at one point that conservatives are “wary” about being “targeted” by the government for their views under the Biden administration. He brought up the president’s anti-MAGA speech in Pennsylvania as an example of what fosters those concerns.

“Listen, we saw Joe Biden stand up in Pennsylvania and give a speech – bathed in red light like Emperor Palpatine, that was bizarre — where he called half the country fascist, or I guess semi-fascist was the term he uses,” said Cruz, referencing the much-criticized motif of the speech.

“That’s not healthy,” said Cruz. “I’ve never seen a president give a speech like that.

Before the senator could continue he was interrupted by laughter bubbling up from the audience at the characterization of an ugly speech being unprecedented among presidents.

As the crowd lol’d, Drucker jumped in to suggest, chuckling a bit himself, that “might’ve, might a way to look at this be, I’ve seen a president give a speech like that. It wasn’t a good idea when he did it, and it’s not a good idea when his successor did it?”

“I will say this: It’s not uncommon in politics to see one candidate or one officeholder demonize their opponent,” Cruz clarified. “Nobody should be surprised to see Donald Trump essentially calling Joe Biden the son of a bitch, or Joe Biden calling Donald Trump a son of a bitch. That’s politics. That’s happened a long time.”

“What is unusual about where we are today, what was unusual about Biden’s speech in Philadelphia is, he wasn’t demonizing his Republican opponents,” Cruz continued. “He wasn’t attacking Trump. He wasn’t attacking me. He was attacking the voters. He was attacking half of America. And that is rare.”

Cruz brought up comments by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul telling Republicans to leave New York and “head to Florida where you belong.”

“You’re not New Yorkers,” the governor said.

“I got to say, I found that horribly offensive,” said Cruz. “Listen, there are a lot of Democrats in the state of Texas. There are a lot of Democrats in this auditorium. You know what? Okay. I cannot imagine saying to you what the Democrat governor of New York said, get the hell out of Texas you don’t belong here. It’s my job to represent you, whether I agree with you or not.”

“The people of Texas are entitled to have their views. And I think there is a dangerous arrogance when you have politicians attacking the voters,” he said, explaining that this is the part that he was saying he’s not seen in presidential speeches before. “It’s different than anything certainly I’ve seen watching politics in my adult life.”

Watch the clip above, via The Texas Tribune Festival 2022.