Ted Cruz quotes 'The American President' to defend his wife from Trump
Political screenwriter extraordinaire Aaron Sorkin couldn't have written the feud between Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Ted Cruz better himself.
Except, it turns out he kind of did back in 1995, with his Academy Award-nominated film The American President.
In an interview with CNN Wednesday morning, Cruz seemed to swipe an infamous line from the film as he sought to defend his wife, Heidi, from Trump.
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On Tuesday, Trump accused Cruz's campaign of releasing a sexist ad against his wife, Melania, and threatened to "spill the beans" on Heidi in retaliation. (Cruz's campaign was not behind the Melania ad.)
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"Last night, Donald threatened my wife. He went directly after my wife," Cruz said on CNN. "She is my best friend in the world. And if Donald wants to get in a character fight, he's better off stickin' with me, because Heidi is way out of his league."
Cruz's quote mirrors a line from the Sorkin film, almost verbatim.
"You want a character debate, Bob? You better stick with me," President Andrew Shepherd, played by Michael Douglas, says in the movie. "'Cause Sydney Allen Wade is way out of your league."
Like Cruz, Douglas' character was defending his female parter's honor.
The only difference was Douglas was not married to Sydney Allen Wade (played by Annette Bening). And the president Douglas portrayed was an anti-gun liberal Democrat with views far away from Cruz's conservative orthodoxy.
It's unclear whether Cruz is a fan of the film, or whether his use of the quote was intentional.
But Trump, for his part, called Cruz out on Twitter for appearing to swipe the line from the film.
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This is also not the first time Cruz has made movie references on the trail.
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Cruz has often quoted The Princess Bride while campaigning, which he calls one of his favorite movies.
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Topics Donald Trump Elections Politics
Emily Cahn is a political reporter at Mashable. Prior to Mashable, Cahn spent nearly four years at Roll Call, where she covered House and Senate races and congressional shenanigans. She has also been a copy editor at The Washington Post, and interned at The Hill, the Houston Chronicle and CBS News when she was a student at The George Washington University. Aside from being a political junkie, Cahn loves dogs and experimenting with cooking. Follow her on Twitter @CahnEmily, where she posts pictures of her family's two misbehaved poodles.
