Former 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz told radio host Michael Berry, when asked if Fox News treated the Texas senator fairly, “There were more than a few players” with a “disproportionate role” in the rise of Donald Trump.
Berry asked Cruz, “You took to task several folks on Fox News and I think you were right to do so. You’ve never been one to whine throughout the course of the campaign, but do you think you were treated fairly and particularly by Fox News?
Cruz responded to Berry and the listening audience:
Well, listen, ya know there’s time for recriminations and ya know, everyone who was responsible for the rise of Donald Trump, they will bear that responsibility going forward. But there were more than a few players who played a disproportionate role in that rise and ya know I’m gonna focus, instead of lookin backwards, I’m gonna focus on looking forwards. And looking forward, ya know a lot of folks in the media are trying to write the story of the death of the conservative movement. And quite frankly that’s a story they’ve always wanted to write. And I think the story is utter nonsense. I think the conservative movement is strong and thriving, and I believe, ya know, the great thing about eternal principles, they’re always true. The free market principles, the constitutional liberties that built America, they work, they are commonsense conservative principles, and I believe America still hungers for us to get back to them.
During an April interview on Sean Hannity’s radio program, Cruz and Hannity clashed over questions about delegate selection.
Fresh off Cruz’s resounding April 5 primary election win in Wisconsin, he appeared on the April 7 edition of The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News, accusing host Bill O’Reilly of defending GOP frontrunner Trump, “I know. You defend him a lot, Bill. That’s your prerogative.” O’Reilly countered saying he defends Trump “on points that I think are valid,” but asserted that he also goes after Trump: “I go after him, and that’s why he’s not on the program, because he’s mad at me. All right?”
On the day of the Wisconsin primary, O’Reilly attributed Trump’s rise to “white grievance” or “working class white men who feel aggrieved.”
The day of the Indiana primary — incidentally the same day that Cruz relented in the fight for the Republican nomination — nationally syndicated radio host Mark Levin lambasted Fox News as a “Donald Trump super PAC.” Earlier that day Trump repeated as truth the National Enquirer story that accused Cruz’s father, Rafael, of being connected with John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. The Cruz campaign shot back that the man in the photo was not the senior Cruz.
In the course of the interview, Cruz told Berry that he would be at the Texas Republican party convention on Saturday, but didn’t know whether or not he would be speaking at the Republican National convention in Cleveland. He did say that he would be at the RNC convention: “We’ve got about 600 delegates going there and I owe it to the delegates to be there and thank them, but I don’t know if I’ll have a role at the convention or not, but I’ll certainly be there cheering on the delegates.”
The Texas senator’s only regret is not winning the nomination. He was, however, inspired along the way and feels great gratitude. Cruz called the experience of running for President of the United States “the most humbling and overpowering experience of my life.”
Despite falling short of the nomination and win, Cruz said, “I believe the energy and passion and vision of the grassroots of this movement will only continue to grow stronger.”
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