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