Ted Cruz admits Trump’s ‘Lyin’ Ted’ nickname was actually genius

BS BULLETIN:

Ted Cruz says Donald Trump’s infamous “Lyin’ Ted” nickname was politically effective during their bitter 2016 Republican primary.
Cruz called Trump’s ability to identify and attack an opponent’s biggest strength an “instinctual genius.”
The Texas senator says he could have remained angry after the campaign but instead chose to work with Trump.

It took a decade, but Ted Cruz is finally giving Donald Trump credit for “Lyin’ Ted.”

And quite a bit of credit, actually.

The Texas senator revisited his brutal 2016 Republican presidential primary battle with Trump during an appearance on Miranda Devine’s “Pod Force One.” Devine asked Cruz about his relationship with Trump today and whether putting their famously nasty primary fight behind them had been a smart political decision.

Cruz first reminded listeners that the contest wasn’t exactly a walkover for Trump.

“In that 2016 campaign, I was the only candidate who beat him over and over again,” Cruz said, noting that he won 12 states.

Cruz said Trump respects strength and described the president as having a “cast-iron backbone.” Then came the elephant in the room.

“It was an ugly primary,” Cruz acknowledged.

Devine reminded him of Trump’s nickname for him: “Lyin’ Ted.”

“Oh, yeah!” Cruz responded.

But rather than complain about it, Cruz gave Trump credit.

“Which I will admit was politically very effective,” Cruz said. “Look, the man has an instinctual genius.”

Cruz explained that before Trump’s attack, he considered one of his greatest political strengths to be the trust voters placed in him. Trump went straight after it.

“The Jiu-Jitsu of Trump was to take my greatest strength and make an attack that goes right at it,” Cruz said, adding that Trump does that “instinctually in a very effective way.”

Cruz has made a similar observation before, recently describing Trump’s political branding as an instinctive “marketing genius.”

The relationship between the two men looked very different during the 2016 campaign. Their primary battle became intensely personal, with Trump attacking Cruz’s wife, Heidi, and promoting an unsubstantiated claim involving Cruz’s father, Rafael, and Lee Harvey Oswald.

Cruz, meanwhile, called Trump a “pathological liar” and “utterly amoral” during the campaign. But Cruz told Devine he had a choice after the election.

“I could have chosen to be pissed off,” he said.

He didn’t. Cruz instead became a Trump ally in the Senate and told Devine that he believes their current relationship works in part because Trump respects people willing to stand their ground.

Ten years later, Cruz can apparently look back at one of the most memorable insults hurled at him during that campaign and appreciate the craftsmanship.