Cruz insisted that he had misspoken, though he has consistently described the riot by Donald Trump supporters as a terrorist attack in interviews and statements over the last year.
By JILL COLVIN NEW YORK (AP) — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had desperation written on his face. The conservative ideologue and potential 2024 presidential contender appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show Thursday to apologize for describing the Jan.6 insurrection as “a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol” a day earlier, the eve of its anniversary. “The way I phrased things yesterday, it was sloppy and it was frankly dumb,” Cruz told Carlson, a powerful voice in GOP politics whose show is among the most-watched on cable news. Cruz insisted that he had misspoken, though he has consistently described the riot by Donald Trump supporters as a terrorist attack in interviews and statements over the last year. But Cruz’s capitulation to outrage from the Republican Party’s far right flank underscores the power it increasingly holds over leading GOP politicians and the influence held by conservative TV hosts like Carlson, who reach millions of viewers every night. And it shows how lawmakers like Cruz, who was once considered one of his party’s most conservative voices, now face pressure from a new guard of hard-liners who swept into power with the backing of Trump’s base. Cruz has been increasingly open about his interest in mounting another run for the GOP presidential nomination, noting that historically “the runner-up is almost always the next nominee.” Carlson had used his previous night’s show to excoriate Cruz for his “terrorist” comment. Others piled on. “Shame on Ted Cruz,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a first-term lawmaker and Trump supporter who has peddled numerous conspiracy theories and was recently barred from Twitter for her anti-vaccination comments. She called Cruz’s initial comments “irresponsible” and disrespectful of “MAGA patriots.
