Ted Cruz privately rants against Trump’s tariffs and claims ‘Tucker created JD,’ according to secret recordings
Ted Cruz ranted against Donald Trump’s trade wars while discussing tariffs with Republican donors, according to a new report.
Cruz, 55, is widely expected to make another run for the White House in 2028, setting him up on a collision course with MAGA favorite Vice President JD Vance for the Republican nomination.
The Texas senator told the gathered crowd that he warned the presidentduring an April 2025 phone call that the GOP was facing an election “bloodbath” in response to the president’s pursuit of levies against other nations rather than tackling affordability and inflation.
In response to Cruz’s concerns, Trump told the lawmaker, “F*** you, Ted.”
Cruz also joked that he would instantly fire any member of his staff who used the phrase “Liberation Day” in his presence, according to Axios.
The report goes on to say that Cruz labelled JD Vance as being Tucker Carlson’s protege.
“Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker’s protégé, and they are one and the same,” Cruz allegedly said.
Cruz was Trump’s main rival during the 2016 Republican primary. The president regularly mocked Cruz, insinuating his father was involved in JFK’s assassination and insulting his wife’s looks. Despite this, Cruz publicly became one of the president’s closest allies in the Senate.
These latest recordings were made in early and middle 2025, Axios reports.
When discussing the tariff phone call, Cruz says Trump “was in a bad mood. I’ve been in conversations where he was very happy. This was not one of them.”
“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,” Cruz said he told the president.
“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.”
That’s when the commander-in-chief responded with an expletive.
Cruz, whose interactions with former Fox News star Carlson have gone viral, with the pair disagreeing over U.S. foreign policy, particularly around Israel, was similarly critical in private.
