Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s supporters unveiled an ad responding to new attacks from Donald Trump. Trump amped up his criticism of Cruz on Twitter following Thursday night’s GOP presidential debate, and a pro-Cruz super PAC, Keep the Promise, responded with a new video.
The ad plays audio of Trump heaping praise on Cruz as part of an introduction at a Lincoln Day fundraising dinner in Palm Beach, Fla., in 2014.
“One of the reasons that I like Ted Cruz so much is that he’s not controversial,” Trump says in the ad to laughs from the audience. “But the truth is, he shouldn’t be controversial because what he’s doing is right … I just watched him and I watched what he was saying and I listened very carefully and I don’t understand the controversy. It’s common sense. It’s good government. It’s so many good things. But he really is a special guy. He’s now a very very popular and important figure in all of our lives.”
Trump’s 2014 comments stand in stark contrast to his recent comments calling Cruz “the ultimate hypocrite.”
“Mr Trump launched a personal, uninitiated attack against Sen. Ted Cruz by suggesting ‘no one likes him.’ But guess who likes Cruz? Donald Trump,” said Kellyanne Conway, president of Keep the Promise I, in a statement. “Voters agree. They know who has been there and who they can trust: Ted Cruz.”
Cruz ranks first in the Washington Examiner‘s newest GOP presidential power rankings released after Thursday’s debate. Trump fell to second place.
