On Thursday's Daily Show, Trevor Noah took a long, hard look at Sen. Ted Cruz, the No. 2 Republican presidential candidate in the most recent polls. Noah started with Cruz's reaction to Wednesday's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California: Holding a "Second Amendment party" at an Iowa shooting range. "Fourteen people just lost their lives in a shooting, and Ted Cruz's first thought is: 'Oh, that reminds me — got to send out my invites to my gun party!'" Noah said. "Yeah, that seems like something you'd only do if you were an a—hole — which, it turns out, is exactly what voters are looking for."
That was Noah's transition to talking about Cruz's surge in the polls. "I don't get it: Everyone who knows Ted Cruz seems to hate him," he said, playing a highlight reel of people talking about how everybody hates Ted Cruz — or in the case of Cruz's college roommate, how much he hates Cruz. Noah looked for supporting evidence in some of Cruz's recent speeches and interviews, and found plenty. "You know, Ted Cruz reminds me of Pepé Le Pew, the skunk," he said. "Because even when he thinks he's being charming, he's just being even more creepy." But Noah did find one redeeming quality about the junior senator from Texas: "You know, maybe Ted Cruz is the leader that America needs. I mean, he's the first person in recent memory who's been able to unite people of both parties — in their hatred of him." There is some NSFW language, but if that doesn't bother you, watch below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Is a River Alive? – a 'powerful synthesis of literature, activism and ethics'The Week Recommends Robert Macfarlane's latest book centres on his journeys to four river systems around the world
-
Good One: an 'intensely compelling' coming-of-age taleThe Week Recommends India Donaldson's 'quietly devastating' debut feature about a teenage girl's life-changing camping trip
-
The politics of punctuationIn the Spotlight Semicolons get the silent treatment; AI makes a dash for dominance
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
-
Giant schnauzer wins top prize at Westminster showSpeed Read Monty won best in show at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club dog show
-
Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar take top GrammysSpeed Read Beyoncé took home album of the year for 'Cowboy Carter' and Kendrick Lamar's diss track 'Not Like Us' won five awards
-
The Louvre is giving 'Mona Lisa' her own roomSpeed Read The world's most-visited art museum is getting a major renovation
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talksSpeed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tourSpeed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamationSpeed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
