Texas senator Ted Cruz addressed “the elephant not in the room” to kick off Thursday night’s FOX News-Google debate, doing his best mimicry of Donald Trump in his opening answer.
“I’m a maniac, and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you’re a terrible surgeon,” Cruz joked. “Now that we’ve gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way …”
The FOX moderators and debate audience received the lightheartedness well, with laughter and applause.
Trump elected to pass on the forum, the last such event before the state caucuses Monday. He instead held a counterprogramming event, advertised to fundraise for “the Veterans and Wounded Warriors” — though as THE WEEKLY STANDARD’s John McCormack notes, the financial aims of Trump’s program have been questioned.
Cruz also pledged to make Iowa “fly-to” country instead of flyover country if he’s elected president, making one last appeal to caucus goers before Monday’s vote. The text of Cruz’s full answer follows, with video below.
