Cruz: I’ve shaken off my 2016 nickname, hard feelings from clash with Trump

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) quipped Saturday night that he has shaken off his clash with President Trump during the 2016 presidential primaries and the nickname Trump gave him.

“This was also a breakthrough year in which my presidential sobriquet went from ‘Lyin’ Ted’ to ‘Beautiful Ted,’ ” Cruz joked at the Gridiron Club, according to Politico. “I gotta say, that new pet name felt like it really hit the mark. Why else do you think I’m growing a beard?”

“Anyway, silly nicknames can be hard to shed,” he added. “Just ask my distinguished colleagues: Little Marco, Pocahontas and Spartacus.”

{mosads}Cruz was apparently referencing Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who have all been branded with mocking nicknames by Trump or other conservatives. 

“In any event, I’m sure I’ve shaken off my 2016 nickname for good, along with any hard feelings that might have lingered from my clash with Donald Trump,” Cruz added, according to the news outlet.

“Sometimes you just have to put minor squabbles behind you … you know, like whether or not your dad was the guy on the grassy knoll.”

Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign said Cruz’s father associated with Lee Harvey Oswald not long before John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

The senator and the president most recently joined forces ahead of Cruz’s reelection in the 2018 midterms.

In late October, Trump rebranded Cruz as “Beautiful Ted,” saying the two had made up.

“He’s not Lyin’ Ted anymore. He’s Beautiful Ted,” Trump told reporters. “I like Ted.”