Sen. Ted Cruz derided former House Speaker John Boehner on Friday as “the ringleader of the Washington cartel,” following a series of insults that Boehner lobbed at Cruz.
“That didn’t take long,” Cruz wrote in a fundraising email sent Friday. “Less than 24 hours after I announced my intentions to continue fighting for our shared conservative values from the Senate, former Speaker of the House John Boehner was at it again.”
Cruz took umbrage with Boehner expressing delight that the “guy from Texas didn’t win,” about two weeks after he referred to Cruz as “Lucifer in the flesh.” But the insults play into the message of the GOP presidential runner-up, who has pointed to the anger propelling Trump’s candidacy as proof that Republican voters dislike party leaders.
“The frustration, the volcanic anger with Washington, was echoed throughout this election,” he told reporters in the press gaggle that marked his return to the Senate. “I will continue fighting for the American people and if fighting for the American people makes you an outsider in the Senate, then I will happily remain an outsider because, at least to date, Congress, both parties, both houses, far too often hasn’t been listening to the American people.”
Cruz continued that theme in the fundraising missive. “This is just another sign that the establishment in Washington has learned nothing over the past year,” he says in the pitch. “The truth of the matter is they won’t stop attacking me, because they know I won’t stop fighting for you.”
