The Republican US Senator from Texas just could be sneaking a startup run. against JD Vance?
When the US broadcast regulator threatened to investigate Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue about Charlie Kirk, liberals accused the Trump administration of being free-speech hypocrites.
As a staunch Trump ally, Senator Ted Cruz might have been expected to side with the administration when Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), suggested Kimmel be suspended.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Mr Carr said.
But instead Mr Cruz rebuffed Mr Carr, saying his threat was “right out of Goodfellas”.
It was a striking move by the Texas Republican, and a figure who describes himself as Donald Trump’s “strongest supporter” in the Senate.
But it was not the first time this year that he has distanced himself from the president.
Mr Cruz has frequently warned that Mr Trump’s tariffs could prove to be one of the biggest tax hikes in a “long, long time”.
Analysts and allies see a plan. He is laying the groundwork for a possible 2028 run, positioning himself as the small-government, traditional conservative candidate to take on JD Vance, the vice-president, or Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, from the more populist wing of the party.
And it puts down a marker for the debate that will follow Mr Trump’s departure from office when Republicans will have to decide where the party goes next.
Vin Weber, a Republican strategist and former member of Congress, said it was never sensible to offer outright opposition to Mr Trump.
“The way I see it is that Senator Cruz has taken on a couple of positions which, in the very short term, are at odds with the president of the United States, but in all likelihood will age very well within the Republican Party,” he told The Telegraph.
Mr Cruz was runner-up to Mr Trump in the party’s 2016 bad-tempered primary….
image….NBC news
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