Last updated on January 14th, 2021 at 06:14 am
Back during the 2016 Republican primary, GOP lawmakers had a much different reaction to Donald Trump. Chris Christie frequently bashed him before becoming an important campaign surrogate.
Lindsey Graham famously tweeted, “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it.” No the South Carolina senator is one of Trump’s chief sycophants.
If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it.
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— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 3, 2016
But no Republican has made such a turn on Trump as Ted Cruz. After Trump called the Texas senator’s wife ugly and accused his father of being involved in the Kennedy assassination, Cruz has become his chief defender.
It was a different story following the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, which Cruz won. Trump tweeted at the time, “Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.”
Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
During his Monday night show, Ari Melber played a clip of Cruz’s reaction at the time. The Texas senator said of Trump’s ridiculous claims, “I wake up every day and laugh at the latest thing Donald tweeted. Because he’s losing it. We need a commander in chief. No the a Twitter in chief. My girls are five and seven. I have to tell you they are better behaved than a presidential candidate who responds by insulting everyone. His reaction so everything is throw a fit.”
Watch a clip of the segment below, courtesy of MSNBC:
Back in 2016, Donald Trump accused Ted Cruz of stealing the Iowa Caucus and called for a do-over. See how the Texas senator reacted to false election claims from Trump back then. pic.twitter.com/Wjiugey2rw
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) January 5, 2021
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.
