Meyers recalls – Seth Meyers used Ted Cruz’s comments about President Donald Trump making America safer and not expecting fuel costs to affect midterms to pivot into a pointed recollection of Trump’s 2016 conspiracy claim involving Cruz’s father and the JFK assassination—an ep
Seth Meyers wasn’t trying to be subtle when he picked apart Sen. Ted Cruz’s rosy view of the midterms. On “Late Night,” the host played a clip of the Texas Republican insisting that President Donald Trump’s actions—specifically, his war against Iran—had made the country safer.
Cruz, in that same exchange, also dismissed the idea that the conflict would move voters. “I don’t think it’s gonna impact the midterms,” he said, pointing to high fuel costs as the supposed problem.
Meyers answered with a family anecdote that landed like a punchline—and then kept going. When gas rises above $4 a gallon. he said. his father “blows up my phone like an angry girlfriend.” The humor didn’t last long. though. because Meyers shifted to the part of Cruz’s political life that comes with a much uglier history: Cruz’s relationship to Trump’s most volatile talking points.
“And by the way, Ted Cruz, I know you have a dad because he helped kill JFK, according to Donald Trump,” Meyers cracked.
Meyers framed it as something Trump actually said in 2016, adding that it triggered a statement from the Cruz campaign. In that response. the campaign argued Trump was “detached from reality. ” and that his “false. cheap. meaningless comments every day” showed “his desperation to get attention and willingness to say anything to do so.”.
That 2016 episode. as Meyers recalled it. centered on Trump “regurgit[ing]” a National Enquirer report alleging that Cruz’s father. Rafael Cruz. was an associate of Lee Harvey Oswald—the man charged with killing President John F. Kennedy. The tabloid ran a purported photo showing Cruz with Oswald handing out anti-Fidel Castro literature in 1963.
The Cruz campaign pushed back hard, saying the image wasn’t Rafael Cruz and calling the story “garbage.” David Pecker—described here as the former publisher of the National Enquirer—later conceded that the story was fake.
Meyers wrapped the segment by pointing to what it means that Cruz can talk confidently about midterms and gas prices while Trump’s past version of the conversation—one built on a conspiracy claim about Cruz’s father and JFK—still sits there, unresolved in public memory.
“You read that. and you think a lot has changed in the last 10 years. ” Meyers said. reflecting on the fact that the argument Cruz was making about safety and electoral impact could still be followed. almost automatically. by the same kind of attention-grabbing narrative—just with different targets and newer claims.
Seth Meyers Ted Cruz Donald Trump midterms Iran war fuel costs gas prices National Enquirer Rafael Cruz Lee Harvey Oswald JFK assassination David Pecker
lol so Cruz still talking like it’s all about gas and safety huh
I don’t even get why this is about midterms, like gas prices already do what they do. Also that JFK thing sounds wild, but I feel like everyone just picks the loudest quote and runs.
Wait, isn’t the JFK accusation like decades old? I’m sure it was debunked but they keep bringing it up anyway. Also Meyers acting like he has receipts… like who’s checking what Trump actually said word for word?
This is why I can’t stand politics, it’s always the same movie. Cruz’s like “safe and won’t impact voting” and then the show jumps to his dad and JFK like that’s supposed to be a gotcha. Didn’t somebody say the photo was fake or whatever, but then they still blame him like it matters today. Feel like both sides just chase attention and call it strategy.