Heading to a campaign rally for his former bitter political rival, President Trump said Monday that he has since changed his mind about “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz.
“He’s not ’Lyin’ Ted’ anymore. He’s ’Beautiful Ted’,” Mr. Trump said of the Republican senator before departing for Texas.
During the Republican presidential primary in 2016, Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz traded harsh insults. The lawmaker referred to Mr. Trump as a “sniveling coward” after Mr. Trump made fun of his wife.
But nowadays, the president is calling Mr. Cruz a “smart guy” who is leading Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke in the Senate race.
“I think Beto O’Rourke is highly overrated,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “I thought he got beaten badly in the debates.”
He said of Mr. Cruz, “Ted and I get along very well. Ted Cruz and I had a very nasty, competitive campaign. We fought it out. It [the primary] became very nasty, and then it was over. We’ve gotten along great. I like Ted. And we have worked together very closely.”
A reporter asked the president if he regretted linking Mr. Cruz’s father to Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, as did a tabloid article.
“I don’t regret anything, honestly,” Mr. Trump said. “It all worked out very nicely.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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