Senator Ted Cruz may have been hoping to impress Iowans and South Carolinians by attacking Donald Trump for his “New York values” throughout the week, but when Trump hit back with a well-aimed 9/11 reference during Thursday’s G.O.P. debate, most everyone seemed to find themselves taking the billionaire’s side.

The New York Daily News, known for its provocative front pages, took the lead on this one:

The characteristically loud and proud pro–New York crowd soon followed suit in a way Cruz likely never anticipated, uniting perpetual frenemies __ Bill de Blasio__ and Governor Andrew Cuomo. It launched a trending hashtag, #NewYorkValues, in which Twitter went on an endless debate over what, exactly, constituted New York values (but all agreed that Cruz was in the wrong). It even sparked anger from a 9/11 widower, who invited Cruz to see Ground Zero and “learn something about, the values of New Yorkers and the Heroes who defended American values on September 11th, 2001.”

But no statement of tentative solidarity with Donald Trump felt as unusual as this one:

Though conservative pundits took the opposite view (“New Yorkers apparently need thicker skins re: #NewYorkValues,” tweeted Breitbart’s Ben Shapiro), Trump continued to defend the conservatives of New York after the debate, pointing out that Fox News and the late William F. Buckley both have called the Big Apple home.