Sen. Ted Cruz explains his side of his 'your world is on fire' line on Late Night

Seth Meyers lightly grills Sen. Ted Cruz

(Image credit: Late Night)

Seth Meyers only really threw one mild hardball in his interview with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday's Late Night. When he read about Cruz's remarks to a 3-year-old girl that her "world is on fire," Meyers said, "at first I got excited, because I thought maybe you're coming around on global warming, but that's not the case, right? Because I think the world's on fire, literally." Cruz got a smattering of applause for his retort about global warming becoming climate change.

Mostly, Cruz got to tell his side of the story about frightening that girl in New Hampshire — or not, as he explained it. Now, according to Cruz, the girl thinks he is a fireman, like Marshall on the Nick Jr. show Paw Patrol. (References like that are why Cruz polls well in the 3-6 demographic, as he joked.) Meyers diagnosed the problem as 3-year-olds having a terrible grasp of metaphors. "I think, in the end," he added, "that girl's problem isn't anything more than that her mother doesn't know what 3-year-olds like to do on a Saturday. 'Let's go watch a senator talk!' I hope she got ice cream there and on the way home." —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.