NEW YORK — Senator Ted Cruz left the door open Monday to a possible 2028 presidential bid, saying his party has not automatically coalesced around Vice President JD Vance and will “have to decide who we are, what do we believe.”
“There’ll be time to figure that out,” he told MS NOW in a wide-ranging interview timed to the release of his new book about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. “I’ll certainly be part of the discussion.”
He framed the coming fight in ideological terms. “Economically, I think we should be a conservative party, and on foreign policy, we’ve got a debate: Are we an isolationist party that withdraws from the world, or do we believe in American leadership? And I care deeply about both of those issues and who the party is.”
The remarks come days before Cruz is set to travel to Iowa to stump for the Republican Senate candidate there — an itinerary that calls to mind 2016, when Cruz campaigned across the Hawkeye State, and won it, before ultimately falling in line with Donald Trump after a long and bruising primary.
Cruz has had quite the arc since then, from Trump detractor — all but protesting his nomination on the convention floor in 2016 — to one of Trump’s “strongest” Senate allies. He also seems to have his finger on the pulse of the conservative movement at a pivotal point, endorsing candidates who have sometimes beaten Trump’s own preferred picks.
“My philosophy on endorsements is I support the most conservative candidate who can win,” Cruz told MS NOW. “I look at, No. 1, what’s their record? Have they been a conservative? Have they been principled?”
Asked if being “MAGA” is a criteria, Cruz sidestepped the moniker. “They have to have a path to win,” he said, while acknowledging “there is no ‘never Trump’ lane.”
He himself stands as a testament to that.
Asked what he would say to the 2016 version of himself, Cruz called Trump “an extraordinary president.”
“Trump doesn’t hide in the corner. He is ferocious. I like that,” Cruz said. “I wish sometimes there was more message discipline and focus. And so, for 10 years, I mean, I talk to him every week, sometimes every day, and I try to urge him to do good things and urge him not to do bad things. And he doesn’t always listen to me, but he frequently listens to me.”
Lately, there are a few issues on which Cruz hopes the president is listening.
The Texas senator waffled on the administration’s latest actions to open American markets to beef imports — a move that’s angering cattle farmers and many of the Republicans who represent them.
Cruz, whose home state boasts 14% of the U.S. cattle population, was muted on the move, saying he agreed with Trump’s “efforts to open up foreign markets to U.S. exports,” but when pressed on whether this particular decision was a good move, demurred: “We’ll see how it plays out.”
On Iran, he has been more specific, criticizing the original Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding and lamenting that the president has been getting bad advice on the issue. His counsel now? “Hold the line” and arm Iranian protesters.
Cruz said he made the case to Trump as recently as a few days ago. “The challenge, frankly, is Turkey doesn’t want that to happen,” Cruz said. “Erdogan is arguing against it. I have urged it for several months, at least to date. President Trump has not done so. I hope that he does.”
In Cruz’s home state of Texas, Republicans face tough midterm headwinds. Cruz called the contest between Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico “a serious and close race,” and urged Republicans to “take it seriously, invest in it.”
Some Republicans blame the closeness on Paxton, who beat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a bruising primary, in part by earning Trump’s endorsement.
“It was a bitter primary,” Cruz said when asked by MS NOW what he makes of Cornyn’s recent behavior and willingness to cause waves with the White House. “There are hurt feelings, that’s human nature … I would imagine losing sucks, and so John’s unhappy about that. That is understandable.”
Amid all the politics, possibilities and partially open doors, there was one Cruz was willing to close.
Asked whether a seat on the Supreme Court is what he aspires to next — given his book’s focus on Thomas, his own time spent clerking at the court and even the president’s recent joke about nominating him— Cruz quickly said “no.”
“I have zero interest in being on the Supreme Court,” he said.
That’s also what he told the president directly when Trump “spoke to me seriously about all three vacancies” during his first term, Cruz said. “And I told him no three times. I don’t want to be a judge.”
A principled judge, he said, “stays out of politics. … I don’t want to do that. I want to be right in the middle of these fights.”
Lillie Boudreaux contributed to this article.
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