Politics

Is Ann Coulter now turning on Ted Cruz?

Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
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First conservative icon Thomas Sowell turned on Ted Cruz, now it appears that Ann Coulter is souring on the Texas Republican as well.

Sowell published two columns this week slamming Cruz for being self-serving. Coulter praised the first of Sowell’s columns in a tweet Wednesday.

Later, in an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” Wednesday night, Coulter doubled down on her praise of Sowell’s anti-Cruz column: “I never push anyone else’s column but mine. Today everyone has got to read Thomas Sowell’s article.”

During the “Hannity” segment, Coulter attacked tea party groups for being filled with “shysters” and “conmen,” naming specifically the Senate Conservatives Fund as an example. The Senate Conservatives Fund was a key outside group that supported Cruz in his fight to “Defund Obamacare” last fall, which ultimately led to a government shutdown.

“And these people are just trying to get money off good Americans by saying we’re going after ‘establishment Republicans,” Coulter complained about tea party groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund. “How about going after Democrats?”

“Do not trust anyone who says they are trying to defeat ‘establishment Republicans,'” she added.

Without mentioning Cruz by name, Coulter railed against tea partiers who fail to understand that the “only way to repeal Obamacare is to elect Republicans.”

“It is not to be fighting against Republicans,” she said.

Coulter seems to be referring to Cruz’s recent threat of a filibuster earlier this month when a House bill to raise the debt ceiling came to the Senate floor. The Senate Republican leadership wanted to avoid a politically perilous fight over the debt ceiling so they could continue to focus on Obamacare’s failures heading into November’s midterm elections. Instead of allowing the bill to pass with only Democratic support, Cruz’s threat forced several Republicans to join the Democratic caucus in voting for cloture, or face a debt ceiling showdown and a possible government shutdown.

Coulter has been effusive in her praise of Cruz in the past. In a September column titled “Cruz Control Should be Standard on GOP Models,” Coulter slammed Republican critics of Cruz’s “Defund Obamacare” strategy, which some conservatives pointed out at the time couldn’t possibly succeed and very well could harm the GOP by leading to a government shutdown.

“Barry Goldwater didn’t ‘have the votes’ when Ronald Reagan launched the conservative movement with his ‘A Time for Choosing’ speech in 1964,” Coulter wrote. “But he galvanized conservatives and gave them the hope of future victories. Does Rep. Peter King think Reagan was a fraud who lost influence in the Republican Party with that speech? We don’t have the votes, Ron!”

But though Coulter has always been quick to profess her “love” for the “majestic” Cruz, she has also been critical of conservative groups threatening to primary Republicans who they didn’t believe were ideologically pure enough.

“I’m going to have a chat with my love, Ted Cruz, because he’s been so magnificent in everything else,” Coulter told Yahoo News last fall, speaking of tea party threats to primary Republican incumbents. “I’m thinking we want to concentrate on taking out or replacing Democratic senators with Republican senators in Louisiana, in Arkansas, in Montana, in West Virginia, and Alaska. Those are big fat targets.”

Now it seems that Coulter may have turned on her paramour. Coulter did not respond to The Daily Caller’s request for clarification on whether the love affair is indeed over.

UPDATE: 

Coulter finally responded to TheDC’s request for comment.

“I still love Cruz!” she said in an email. “But he’s got to stop encouraging attacks on incumbent Republicans. Those groups in DC who claim to go after ‘establishment Republicans’ are conmen and shysters who have no interest in saving America. They’re just trying to load up their boats.”

“THIS YEAR, ALL THAT MATTERS IS WINNING ELECTIONS, AND I DON’T CARE IF IT’S WITH JOHN MCCAIN,” she continued, adding in parenthesis, “though I’d primary Lindsay Graham if there were a really strong alternative.”

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