Donald Trump has an upsetting new nickname for Ted Cruz

The long, twisted relationship between President Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) continues as Trump coins a new nickname for one of his most heated 2016 GOP rivals: "Beautiful Ted."

Trump shared his new nickname for Cruz while speaking to reporters on Monday as he prepared to leave for yet another rally, this time down in Texas in support of the senator's re-election efforts.

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"Beautiful Ted" and "Texas Ted" are a far cry from the "Lyin' Ted" moniker Trump slapped on Cruz during the 2016 GOP presidential primary.

Befriending a former inter-party opponent isn't out of the norm (see: Obama and Hillary Clinton.) But there was nothing normal about the downright ugly relationship Cruz and Trump had during the 2016 race, which included insults aimed at wives and baseless conspiracy theories.

Because of course who could forget the 2016 election's connection to the John F. Kennedy assassination by way of the National Enquirer?

Trump, by the way, says he regrets nothing.

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With Cruz facing a stiff challenge from Democratic opponent Rep. Beto O'Rourke, he's called in the president to fly down and do the MAGA rally act he's been putting on all over the country recently. This, despite calling Trump a "sniveling coward" on the campaign trail in 2016 and being booed at the 2016 RNC where Trump was coronated as the official GOP candidate.

If Monday's rally is anything near as awkward as that time Cruz phone-banked for Trump, we're in for a delight.

Politics does, indeed, make strange bedfellows.