Texas Senator Ted Cruz launched into a vulgar attack on MSNBC’s Morning Joe hosts over their recent Mar-a-Lago meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, marking another chapter in the complex relationship between former Trump critics and the returning commander-in-chief.
During an appearance on Fox News’ Hannity, Cruz responded to host Sean Hannity’s observation about Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s visit to “kiss the ring” at Trump’s Florida estate with an explicit suggestion about their behavior.
“I’m not even sure they were kissing the ring. I think they were kissing a little bit lower than that,” Cruz smirked before dismissing their show’s viewership. “There are three viewers that watch Morning Joe and two of them are blood relatives to Joe and Mika.”
The crude commentary arrives thick with irony, given Cruz’s own dramatic reversal on Trump. In 2016, during their bitter primary battle, Cruz unleashed a blistering assessment of his then-rival, calling Trump “utterly amoral,” “a pathological liar,” “a narcissist,” and “a serial philanderer.” Cruz’s evolution from critic to steadfast do-boy supporter mirrors the very behavior he now mocks in others.
The Morning Joe hosts’ pivot toward Trump has already extracted a hefty price in viewership. Their largely liberal audience dropped by 17 percent in the hour following their revelation about the Trump meeting. The next day, ratings plummeted 38 percent compared to the show’s yearly average, showing their audience’s clear displeasure of the hosts’ groveling to the president-elect.
Brzezinski attempted to justify the controversial visit on air, framing it as a necessary step toward dialogue. “For those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times,” she said, “I guess I would ask back, ‘Why wouldn’t we?'” This explanation did little to stem the exodus of viewers who had come to rely on Morning Joe as a consistent voice of Trump criticism.
The hosts reportedly sought to “restart communications” with Trump after years of pointed criticism, a move that mirrors the path taken by other former Trump critics within the Republican establishment—Cruz included. After all, accusations are often confessions. The re-elected Texas senator’s transformation from Trump’s most dogged opponent to reliable sycophant serves as a reminder of necessary political realignments (from Cruz’s standpoint) that have reshaped conservative media and politics.
Cruz’s sexually charged joke about fellow media figures who’ve made peace with Trump stands out as particularly striking given his own transformation. The Texas senator’s crude attempt at humor serves as an inadvertent reminder of the political contortions required to maintain relevance in a Republican Party still firmly in Trump’s grip.
The spectacle of former Trump critics now seeking his favor – whether through crude jokes or personal visits – highlights the continuing influence of a president-elect who has managed to bend both his former media critics and political rivals to his will, even after facing multiple indictments and two impeachments during his first term. Cruz’s crass commentary, rather than landing as intended mockery, instead underscores his own parallel journey from anti-Trump to servile supporter, revealing more about his own fealty than the targets of his crude joke.
Published: Dec 5, 2024 07:12 am