WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz expertly trolled his fellow presidential hopeful and GOP front-runner Donald Trump on Wednesday, hoping to shame the billionaire businessman into attending the Republican debate Thursday night.
After Trump announced he will skip Thursday night's debate hosted by Fox News, Cruz not only launched the hashtag #DuckingDonald to mock the billionaire businessman, but he co-opted one of Trump's signature pieces of campaign merchandise to use in his favor.
For $25, you can now purchase a "Make Trump Debate Again" hat. It's nearly identical to Trump's iconic "Make America Great Again" hats that have sold like hot cakes throughout the election cycle.
This hat, however, comes with a logo for Cruz's campaign on the back. And the profits will go to Cruz's campaign — meaning Cruz will literally profit off of his Trump trolling.
Don't let #DuckingDonald skip the debate. Get your #MakeTrumpDebateAgain hat today -----> https://t.co/U4RQzKkXTw pic.twitter.com/HzzQ3PSLoo— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 27, 2016
Users on social media have already been tweeting with the #MakeTrumpDebateAgain hashtag.
I'd like to know that my candidate can stand in there and take a punch! #maketrumpdebateagain— Morris Dale (@cumod) January 27, 2016
@dens1984 @tedcruz Got to hand it to Teds campaign. That's pretty good! #MakeTrumpDebateAgain #DuckingDonald #DumpTrump— Jeniwren (@txGOPchick) January 27, 2016
Both Trump and Cruz are in a neck-in-neck fight in the Hawkeye State, with less than a week to go until the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.
A win for either campaign would build momentum heading into the rest of the early nominating contests, making it a must-win contest for both campaigns.