Stephen Colbert Loves President Trump and Ted Cruz's Phony Bromance

Jack Holmes
Updated

From Esquire

After an election in which everyone and their brother billed themselves as an "anti-establishment outsider," it's great fun to watch everyone settle into Washington Mode like nothing happened. That includes President Trump and Senator Ted Cruz, two men who made their political names through extended Maverick 2.0 performance art, and who spent much of 2016 saying terrible things about each other.

But now, as Stephen Colbert pointed out last night, they're grabbing dinner, families in tow, to try to sort out this whole healthcare thing:

Now, you might say this is standard politician behavior-except these two billed themselves as the antidote to the standard politician. Also, they went above and beyond dirty campaigning. The president insulted the appearance of Cruz's wife, Heidi, and threatened to "spill the beans" on her-whatever that means. He also almost exclusively referred to Cruz as "Lyin' Ted," one of a number of fairly effective nicknames he doled out to his enemies. And then there was that whole JFK thing, where Trump suggested Cruz's father was involved in the plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy, Jr. Meanwhile, Cruz called Trump a "pathological liar," a "serial philanderer," and a number of other words Trump had never heard before.

But now they're friends! There was nothing much to see at the White House last night, folks: Just a couple of Washington Outsiders Who Tell It Like It Is, disregarding principle and formidable two-way hatred for political gain.

The best part is imagining what they could have talked about. Colbert had some fun with that: "How's your ugly wife and your father the president-killer?" he said in his Trump voice, "Still killing presidents?"

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