Liz Cheney says Ted Cruz isn’t ‘a real man’

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Republican Wyoming representative Liz Cheney on Wednesday tore into senator Ted Cruz for failing to defend his wife and father from attacks by former president Donald Trump.

“A real man would be defending his wife, and his father, and the constitution,” Ms Cheney told CNN.

Her jibe came a day after the senator accused Ms Cheney of being more like a Democrat because of her opposition to former President Trump.

The former president “broke” Ms Cheney and she is suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome”, Mr Cruz had said on Tuesday. “She hates Donald Trump so much that it just has overridden everything in her system. She’s lashing out at Trump and Republicans and everything, and she’s become a Democrat, and it’s sad to watch what has happened.”

In response, the congresswoman said “Trump broke Ted Cruz”.

She was referring to an incident in 2016, when the former president attacked Mr Cruz’s family during the presidential race. Mr Cruz ran against Mr Trump during the 2016 GOP presidential primaries. In March 2016, Mr Trump had retweeted an unflattering photo of the senator’s wife Heidi Cruz and threatened to “spill the beans” on her.

The feud between the congresswoman and senator escalated after Mr Cruz suggested last week that the only way for Ms Cheney to run for president in 2024 is on a Democratic ticket.

To this, Ms Cheney said on 14 November: “I know you’re posturing for the secessionist vote, Ted. But my party, the Republican Party, saved the union. You swore an oath to the constitution. Act like it.”

The Wyoming Republican Party passed a resolution earlier this week to no longer recognise Ms Cheney as a member of the party. This was the second formal rebuke for her criticism against Mr Trump.

In February, the GOP voted to formally censure Ms Cheney after she became one of the 10 Republicans who had voted to impeach Mr Trump for “incitement of insurrection” in the wake of the 6 January Capitol Hill violence.

It’s “laughable” for anybody to suggest Ms Cheney isn’t a “conservative Republican”, her spokesperson Jeremy Adler said.

“She is bound by her oath to the constitution. Sadly a portion of the Wyoming GOP leadership has abandoned that fundamental principle and instead allowed themselves to be held hostage to the lies of a dangerous and irrational man,” Mr Adler added.

Meanwhile, Mr Cruz was mocked mercilessly on Twitter after he tweeted a line from a limerick attacking president Joe Biden’s travel plans.