ORLANDO — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz dubbed White House press secretary Jen Psaki “Peppermint Patty” during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
When Cruz first mentioned her, he teased the crowd for not reacting as negatively as they did when they booed his mention of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Oh, come on. Jen Psaki doesn’t get the Justin Trudeau treatment?” Cruz said. “Peppermint Patty deserves some love.”
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The nickname seems to reference Psaki’s signature red bob haircut, which Cruz apparently found to resemble the character from the Peanuts comic strips and cartoons.
Paski was asked about Cruz’s comment in a White House press briefing soon after his speech.
“Don’t tell him I like Peppermint Patty. So I’m not going to take it too offensively,” Psaki said from the White House briefing room lectern. “Sen. Cruz, I like Peppermint Patty. I’m a little tougher than that, but there you go.”
Cruz responded to her reaction with a shrug emoji on Twitter.
??♂️ https://t.co/DOLPkqeDG2
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 24, 2022
In his speech, Cruz argued that the “fundamental conflict that is playing out across this great nation is a battle between power and liberty.”
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“Mask mandates vs. kids in school. Spotify vs. Joe Rogan. GoFundMe vs. Canadian truckers,” Cruz said.
“Jen Psaki from the White House podium said, ‘Billionaires, oh billionaires in Silicon Valley, please silence that pesky Joe Rogan guy,’” Cruz said. “There’s a pattern of government asking Big Tech to silence dissent.”
