The list of Ted Cruz’s most embarrassing public moments is not short. It includes groveling at the feet of a man who called his wife ugly and referring to a basketball hoop as a “basketball ring.” On Monday, he added to the tally when he inserted himself into an argument between two people on Twitter, then challenged one of them to a wrestling match against someone else.
Sunday night, Cruz jumped into a Twitter back-and-forth between brawny 70-year-old actor Ron Perlman, known for his roles in Hellboy and Sons of Anarchy, and Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, known for his love of attention. Cruz injected himself into the conversation in order to defend Ohio congressman Jim Jordan’s honor, after Perlman called him ugly. Then, in a strange attempt to challenge Perlman’s toughness, Cruz tweeted that the actor should physically grapple with Jordan, who once coached wrestling at Ohio State.
Perlman then suggested that he and Cruz wrestle instead, while making a not-so-subtle reference to accusations that Jordan helped cover up a sex scandal on the Ohio State wrestling team.
Cruz returned fire by continuing to hype up a wrestling match between two other men, and invoking a manicure to suggest Perlman’s softness.
Perlman got the last word, for now.
One cannot help compare Cruz’s pugilistic spirit here to his reaction back when Trump insulted his wife’s looks back in 2015. True, Cruz did call Trump “a sniveling coward.” But he didn’t volunteer any of his colleagues to kick Trump’s ass. And a few months later, Cruz endorsed him for president.
