Ted Cruz panned Hillary Clinton's debate performance while praising former rival Donald Trump. | Getty Cruz: Trump had 'the strongest debate performance' yet

Hillary Clinton “did not have a good performance,” according to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump had “the strongest debate performance he’s had in this election cycle.”

Cruz, who recently endorsed the man who beat him in the Republican primary after months of refusing to do so, embraced his new role as a Trump surrogate in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, dinging Clinton as “tired” and “formulaic” while praising Trump for drawing “strong contrast.”


“The entire debate from Hillary was more Washington as usual,” Cruz said. “And every proposal she advanced was another big government solution that isn’t working, that is failing. And I thought Donald had the strongest debate performance he’s had in this election cycle. I think he really went after Hillary, which was a good thing. And I think he drew strong contrast, particularly on taxes, and on regulation and on law and order, and on the disastrous Iran deal. And so I thought it was a good debate night.”

Trump had the “upper hand,” Cruz said — particularly during the first half hour of the debate.

“Hillary was tentative and had no real answers,” he said. “She was on the defensive the entire time. And the biggest thing is her answers, they sounded old and tired, and I don’t mean that in a comment on her health. I mean it on a comment on her ideas. Her ideas are rehashed 1960s Great Society, big government programs.”

During the Republican primary, Trump damaged Cruz by repeatedly insinuating that he was actually a Canadian citizen.

But the Texas senator criticized the media for focusing on Trump’s five-year campaign to question President Barack Obama’s birthplace, which he struggled to explain during Monday night’s debate.

“You know, the idea that they focus on the birther issue, I find thoroughly amusing,” Cruz said, “because unless you are in a college faculty hall, or the newsroom of a major newspaper, I don’t think there are a whole lot of voters in this country that give a flying flip about the birther issue.”

Cruz also suggested that Clinton had failed to present a positive case for her candidacy: “And if all Hillary cares about is screaming you’re a racist, you’re a racist rather than actually providing real solutions to the challenges facing working men and women, I don’t think that’s a good debate night for her.”

