Sen. Ted Cruz, during an appearance Monday evening on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” addressed several politically charged topics as the show’s host used the occasion of their meeting to pepper the GOP lawmaker with questions ranging from global warming to same-sex marriage.
Meyers early on in the interview addressed Cruz saying in a speech this weekend in New Hampshire that the White House’s failed foreign policy has set the world “on fire.”
The Texas Republican’s weekend remarks prompted a three-year-old girl in the audience to ask her mother whether the world really was on fire, much to the amusement of Cruz’s audience.
“The world is on fire, yes,” Cruz said during his weekend speech, addressing the girl. “Your world is on fire. But you know what? Your mommy’s here and everyone’s here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better.”
Meyers used Cruz’s weekend speech to question the Texas senator’s position on global warming.
“[M]y question is more about the rhetoric of the ‘world is on fire.’ Now, first I got excited because I thought maybe you were coming around on global warming, but that’s not the case, right? Because I think the world’s on fire. Literally,” the NBC host said, his remarks prompting laughter and applause. “Hottest year on record. But you’re not there, right?”
Cruz responded by explaining that he will continue to rely on science and data, adding that global warming “alarmists” have a problem today because the data doesn’t back up their many claims.
Later, Meyers switched to discuss same-sex relationships and Cruz’s opposition to “progress.”
“Now, in order to get elected president, you have to have at least half of the people have to agree with what your positions are. And I think a lot of people, you know, find the constitution to be a very important thing, but there are things like – let’s talk about gay marriage for a second!” Meyers said.
“Fifty-nine percent of Americans think gay marriage should be legal. Forty percent of Republicans,” he said. “Yet you just passed a bill saying states should be allowed to decide on their own. Why take up that cause now when it seems like it’s inevitable that the tide of progress is going to turn that way?”
Cruz’s response was simple: “I’m a constitutionalist.”
“For over 200 years, marriage has been a question for the states. Now, personally, I believe in traditional marriage between one man and one woman. But if you want to change the marriage laws, the way to do it constitutionally is convince your fellow citizens, go to the state legislature and change it. It shouldn’t be the federal government or unelected judges imposing their own definition of marriage. We should instead respect our constitutional system,” he said.
“I read the Constitution this morning,” Meyers joked. “I don’t know if you are right on all that stuff.”
