After spending much of the 2016 campaign known as "Lyin' Ted" while spitting venom in Donald Trump's general direction, Senator Ted Cruz traversed a tenuous road to redemption - earning his way back into Trump's good graces, helping with the cause, and clearly learning much about trolling along the way.

The target of Cruz's hijinks is Univision owned Deadspin and Senior Reporter, Ashley Feinberg. Hours after Politico ran an article mentioning that Cruz was was trying to improve relations within the GOP, Feinberg latched onto this tidbit:

Cruz appears intent on building—and in some cases repairing—personal relationships with Republican senators. He started a weekly basketball game in the Russell Building, for example, and has been urging colleagues to attend. (Cruz is said to be a surprisingly good jump-shooter with miserable form.) Tim Scott has played, and Marco Rubio is said to be joining soon.

The Deadspin editor immediately put out the call for undercover pictures, hoping of course for some shots of Ted lookin' like an old white guy playing basketball - when Cruz himself, or Barron Trump pretending to be Ted, stopped by with an offering:

What follows is comedy gold as Deadspin loses their cool and Cruz responds: @Deadspin pic.twitter.com/TMiDBco2TB — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 25, 2017

This is the best timeline.