"The recordings - nearly 10 minutes in total - provide an unvarnished look at how Cruz is positioning himself as a traditional free trade, pro-interventionist Republican ahead of a possible 2028 primary campaign against the less hawkish Vance. Zoom in: During his talks, Cruz cast Vance as a pawn of conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson. Cruz has accused Carlson of promoting antisemitism and an anti-Israel foreign policy in their well-publicized spats."
"He tells them that after Trump introduced the tariffs in early April 2025, Cruz and a few other senators had a call with Trump in which they urged him to stand down. Cruz says the lengthy call, which stretched past midnight, "did not go well," and that Trump was "yelling" and "cursing." "Trump was in a bad mood," Cruz tells the donors. "I've been in conversations where he was very happy. This was not one of them.""
"Cruz says he told Trump: "Mr. President, if we get to November of [2026] and people's 401(k)s are down 30% and prices are up 10-20% at the supermarket, we're going to go into Election Day, face a bloodbath." "You're going to lose the House, you're going to lose the Senate, you're going to spend the next two years being impeached every single week." Trump's response, according to Cruz: " F**k you, Ted.""
Nearly ten minutes of recordings from early and mid 2025 capture Cruz positioning himself as a traditional free-trade, pro-interventionist Republican ahead of a potential 2028 primary challenge to the less hawkish J.D. Vance. Cruz casts Vance as a pawn of podcaster Tucker Carlson and accuses Carlson of promoting antisemitism and an anti-Israel foreign policy. Cruz warns donors that President Trump’s tariffs could decimate the economy, tank 401(k)s, raise supermarket prices and trigger electoral losses and persistent impeachment efforts. Cruz recounts a late-night call with Trump after the tariff rollout that did not go well, describes Trump as yelling and cursing, and reports Trump responding, "F**k you, Ted." Cruz also mocked the "Liberation Day" branding and described battling the White House over a trade deal with India.
Read at Axios
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