Breakfast with Ted Cruz: guns, Texas, and his political future
| Washington
Ted Cruz loves to debate. While at Princeton, the firebrand Republican senator from Texas won the North American debate championship, and in the GOP primary debates of 2015-16, he clearly relished the verbal thrust and parry 鈥� even when Donald Trump was calling him names.
So I was intrigued to have Senator Cruz speak at a Monitor Breakfast. Not that we reporters were there to debate him in his appearance last Thursday. We were there to get his take on things, push back on spin, and, we hoped, get a word in edgewise.
Mr. Cruz did not disappoint. He spoke in beautifully formed paragraphs, not an 鈥渦m鈥� or an 鈥渁h鈥� to be found as he made his points. The challenge came when he would, um, filibuster. In our hour together, we didn鈥檛 get through many topics 鈥� mainly just gun control and the 鈥減urpling鈥� of Texas.
But Mr. Cruz did make news. He rejected the letter released that morning by 145 CEOs urging Senate action on gun violence, as The Hill newspaper聽. He acknowledged that once-deep-red Texas is now an electoral battleground, declaring that if President Trump loses the Lone Star State next year, it鈥檚 鈥済ame over.鈥� Monitor reporter Henry Gass incorporated Cruz comments into on Texas鈥檚 shifting political identity.
After the breakfast, I asked the senator if he鈥檒l try for the presidency in 2024. His answer came as no surprise: 鈥淚 hope to run again.鈥� That was the on my breakfast report.
Mr. Cruz also reminded us of his flair for PR. He鈥檚 been publicly feuding with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot over that city鈥檚 gun violence, and that he come visit an invitation to a 鈥減olitical circus.鈥� He mentioned that two days earlier, he had live-streamed a meeting on guns with actress and liberal activist Alyssa Milano, which he praised for its civility. He joked about his impending one-on-one basketball match with Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
鈥淚鈥檓 pretty sure he鈥檚 taller than I am,鈥� Mr. Cruz quipped.
All of these interactions began as Twitter exchanges, a sign that he鈥檚 learned a thing or two from the man who vanquished him in 2016 鈥� and who now calls him 鈥淏eautiful Ted,鈥� not 鈥淟yin鈥� Ted.鈥�
C-SPAN wasn鈥檛 able to record our Cruz breakfast, but the audio is available . CNN did tape the event, and on Chicago TV that night.
Our next breakfast is Oct. 16, featuring Ken Cuccinelli, head of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services agency.
