In secret recordings, Ted Cruz trashes Trump tariffs, Vance
The recordings — nearly 10 minutes in total — provide an unvarnished look at how Ted Cruz is positioning himself as a traditional free trade, pro-interventionist Republican ahead of a possible 2028 primary campaign against the less hawkish Vance.
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.
Cruz warns donors that Trump's tariffs could decimate the economy and lead to his impeachment.
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."
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: "Fuck you, Ted."
Cruz repeatedly brings up Vance in the recordings, tying him to Carlson and accusing him of advancing the podcaster's anti-interventionist foreign policy.
"Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker's protégé, and they are one and the same," Cruz says.
https://www.axios.com/2026/01/25/cruz-tr...cret-tapes
The recordings — nearly 10 minutes in total — provide an unvarnished look at how Ted Cruz is positioning himself as a traditional free trade, pro-interventionist Republican ahead of a possible 2028 primary campaign against the less hawkish Vance.
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.
Cruz warns donors that Trump's tariffs could decimate the economy and lead to his impeachment.
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."
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: "Fuck you, Ted."
Cruz repeatedly brings up Vance in the recordings, tying him to Carlson and accusing him of advancing the podcaster's anti-interventionist foreign policy.
"Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker's protégé, and they are one and the same," Cruz says.
https://www.axios.com/2026/01/25/cruz-tr...cret-tapes
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
