Former Speaker of the House John Boehner called Republican presidential candidate and Texas Ted Cruz “Lucifer” after giving a speech at the Futures Industry Association conference in Boca Raton, Florida.
Politico reported that Boehner made this statement during a Q&A period following a speech in which he endorsed Paul Ryan for president. Boehner said that “anybody can be nominated.”
Boehner called Cruz the angel of darkness after he said, “If we don’t have a nominee who can win on the first ballot, I’m for none of the above. They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I’m for none of the above. I’m for Paul Ryan to be our nominee, reported Breitbart News.
Boehner says he will support Ryan if no Republican candidate achieves a majority on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention in July.
The House speaker has called the freshman senator names before, doing so even when he was House Speaker.
Breitbart News reported in August of 2015 that then-House Speaker Boehner called Cruz “a jackass” while attending a fundraiser in Colorado. Boehner reportedly said he liked Senator Cruz’s presidential campaign to the extent that it keeps “that jackass” out of Washington, D.C.
Ryan has not ruled out accepting a nomination at the Republican convention. As reported by Breitbart News, Ryan suggested on election night that he is open to seeking the Republican presidential nomination during a contested convention in Cleveland.
Boehner is not the only public figure to refer to spiritual figures this week.
The day after the election, Reverend Franklin Graham was reported by CBN to encourage evangelical Christians to vote no matter which candidates are nominated. He said, “And I’m not going to tell people who to vote for, I’m not going to do that — let God tell you who to vote for,” he said. “You may have to hold your nose, you may have to decide with is the least heathen of the two heathen.”
It is not clear which “two heathen” Graham was referring to.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as an associate judge and prosecutor in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2