White House insiders say they’re fed up with Sen. Ted Cruz’s antics and believe he has ulterior motives for breaking with President Trump.
Trump administration sources told NOTUS that Cruz appears to be positioning himself against Vice President Vance ahead of a potential 2028 presidential bid.
“Ted has been very unserious as of late,” a source close to Trump told the outlet.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Cruz has notably taken positions that diverge from those of other Trump loyalists aligned with the president.
In September, Cruz criticized Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel as “mafioso” behavior, calling Carr’s actions “dangerous as hell.“
It was one of the few Republican criticisms after Carr threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcast license over Kimmel’s monologue about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Despite Trump responding by saying he “disagrees” with Cruz’s position, Carr will testify on December 17 before the Senate Commerce Committee, which Cruz chairs.
A senior Trump administration official told NOTUS that Cruz’s actions against the president are “not opaque,” describing them as “pretty transparent” and a source of “frustration” for many Trump allies.
A spokesperson for Cruz told the Daily Beast that he has been “very good friends” with the president, and “no amount of sniping from disgruntled anonymous staffers trying to score political points is going to change that,” describing the senator as “the point of the spear in advancing much of President Trump’s legislative agenda.”
On Monday, Axios reported that Cruz’s feud with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, a friend of Vance, is among the signs that the senator may be preparing to run for president against Vance in 2028.
Cruz and Carlson have been at odds for months, and the feud escalated when Carlson invited Holocaust-denying white nationalist Nick Fuentes onto his podcast. In response to Fuentes’ appearance, Cruz said that Carlson was “complicit” in “evil” by giving a platform to someone who has praised Adolf Hitler.
“This is a poison, and I believe we are facing an existential crisis in our party and in our country,” Cruz said at the Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership Summit.
The comment is not the first indication that Cruz has expressed concern about the direction of the Republican Party. After significant Republican losses in the November elections, Cruz quickly warned his party about the “really dangerous” implications of Democratic victories. In October, he urged Trump to take the “No Kings” protests held across the country in opposition to his presidency “seriously,” and in April, he warned that Trump’s tariff policies could lead to an economic “bloodbath.”
Now, sources tell NOTUS that Cruz may also be putting up “roadblocks” for the president’s nominee for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, who has been nominated a second time after his first nomination was withdrawn by Trump earlier this year amid the president’s escalating feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Reportedly, many Senate Republicans were surprised not to see Isaacman on the markup schedule when they returned to the chamber following the longest government shutdown in history, especially considering he had already undergone a confirmation hearing in April. In what one source described as “a desperate attempt to relaunch a political career as a protest candidate,” Cruz scheduled Isaacman for a confirmation hearing on December 3.
According to NOTUS, Cruz’s actions represent a “proxy war” between him and Vance, who has also been rumored as a potential 2028 presidential contender. The outlet reports that Cruz was backing Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has served as the agency’s interim administrator and was a possible contender against Isaacman, whom Vance supports.
“He won’t collaborate or support any of the agenda Trump ran on,” a source told the outlet about Cruz, adding that the senator is “quickly going” in the way of Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was called a “traitor” by the president after years of being his MAGA favorite.
“I can only imagine what fresh nickname Trump comes up with now to end Ted’s career for the second time,” the source said, referring to the first nickname Trump gave Cruz during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, when both were candidates: “Lyin’ Ted.”
Yet, speaking to reporters on Monday, the president appeared “not surprised” by reports of the senator’s potential 2028 run and continued to refer to him as a “very good friend.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment, but received no immediate response.
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