Commentators in both parties were appalled when Donald Trump said during Sunday's debate that if he becomes president he will "instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into" Hillary Clinton's email scandal. When Clinton expressed relief "that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country," Trump shot back: "Because you'd be in jail."

Trump's words belonged in a banana republic, not the United States, the critics said. "That was the comment of a banana republic," Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told reporters after the debate.

"That's banana republic," said Charles Krauthammer.

"Banana republic," said the New York Post.

"Banana republic," said the Boston Globe.

Assume all the critics are correct. And then ask: Were they listening during the Republican primaries? In those contests, the man who finished second in the race, a Harvard-trained lawyer and one of the brightest legal minds of his generation, also openly expressed a desire to use the powers of the presidency to put Hillary Clinton in jail.

Ted Cruz made it part of his stump speech to portray Clinton, after losing to the ticket of Cruz and Carly Fiorina, tossing and turning at night, unable to sleep. Cruz would pause for a beat and then add: "In her jail cell." Cruz's audiences loved it.

On other occasions, Cruz said that while Clinton hopes to live in the White House, he will instead win the presidency, and then, "I've got slightly different government housing in mind for her."

In March, Cruz appeared at an Orlando rally in which he was interviewed by Sean Hannity. The Fox News host asked what Cruz would do if the FBI concluded that Clinton should be charged with a crime but the Obama Justice Department did nothing about it.

"Would you aggressively go after Hillary Clinton if the FBI believes she committed felonies?" Hannity asked.

"Absolutely, yes," Cruz responded.

One could speculate that since FBI director James Comey later recommended against charges for Clinton, then a President Cruz would not have acted. But Cruz condemned Comey's decision immediately after it was announced, and given the things Cruz said in the past, it seems likely that, were he the Republican nominee today, Cruz would still be telling stories about Hillary Clinton tossing and turning in her cell.