Ted Cruz trashes Trump At CNN Republican town hall

Ted Cruz: Election Could Be “A Bloodbath of Watergate Proportions” for Republicans

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) warned that the upcoming election could be “a bloodbath of Watergate proportions” for the GOP if people are in dire financial straits as a result of the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

“If people are going back to work, if they’re optimistic, if they’re positive about the future, we could see a fantastic election: the president getting reelected with a big margin, Republicans winning both Houses of Congress,” Cruz told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier this morning.

He added: “But I also think if on Election Day, people are angry and they’ve given up hope and they’re depressed, which is what [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, [D-Calif.], and [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer, [D-N.Y.], want them to be, I think it could be a terrible election. I think we could lose the White House and both houses of Congress, that it could be a bloodbath of Watergate proportions.”

Cruz says President Donald Trump wants to make a deal with Congress on financial stimulus.

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

Yesterday, Trump announced coronavirus relief talks had restarted,  just days after he shocked financial markets by announcing he’d ordered Republicans to end negotiations altogether.

On Wednesday, Pelosi said Trump had made a “terrible mistake” by halting negotiations.

“It’s hard to see any clear sane path on what he’s doing but the fact is, he saw the political downside of his statement of walking away from the negotiations … he’s rebounding from a terrible mistake he made yesterday and the Republicans in Congress are going down the drain with him on that,” she said. “But I will say this, it is really important for us to come to this agreement. When the president just popped off and made that announcement without even informing us that that was the case, he insulted the Constitution of the United States.”

Cruz says he blames Pelosi and Schumer for holding up direct payments to Americans. Stimulus negotiations initially fell apart over the summer when Democrats refused to concede to Republicans’ demands that relief legislation include a clause providing liability protections for employers whose employees become infected with the novel coronavirus while on the job.