CNN anchor compares Ted Cruz to Reek from Game of Thrones

Back when Game of Thrones was at its height, it was pretty common to hear it brought up in political conversations. The show is about group of power-hungry graspers fighting for control; people on both sides of the aisle were constantly comparing their political enemies to Joffrey, or Cersei, or Ramsay, or whoever. The metaphors wrote themselves.

And it’s still happening today, with CNN anchor John Berman comparing Texas senator Ted Cruz to Reek, the name Theon Greyjoy took up once he became a servile lapdog to Ramsay Bolton.

How did that end up happening? Let’s get into it.

Ted Cruz compared to Reek from Game of Thrones on CNN

So yesterday was the anniversary of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building, when a mob of radicalized people convinced that Donald Trump had won the 2020 presidential election over Joe Biden stormed the place and interrupted the certification of a free and fair election. Capitol police officers fought with the mob, people carried Confederate flags into the Capitol Building, people died on the scene and several of the police officers involved later committed suicide.

It was a terrible day, and Senator Ted Cruz — who eagerly spread lies about election fraud leading up the day — did something unexpected on the anniversary by describing it on the Senate floor as a “violent terrorist attack on the capitol.”

The problem, at least for Cruz, is that this perspective on the Capitol attack clashes with a revisionist narrative some in the Republican party are pushing that the attack was no big deal…since admitting that it was a big deal would mean admitting their complicity in it, and they can’t have that. One of those pushers is Fox News host Tucker Carlson, to whom Cruz went groveling in contrition for daring to criticize violent extremists who mobbed the Capitol Building.

“There are a lot of dumb people in the Congress,” Carlson told Cruz on his show. “You are not one of them. I think you’re smarter than I am. And you never use words carelessly. And yet you called this a terror attack when by no definition was it a terror attack. That’s a lie. You told that lie on purpose, and I’m wondering why you did.”

On cue, Cruz backtracked like his life (or his Senate seat) depended on it: “When you aired your episode last night, I sent you a text shortly thereafter and said listen, I would like to go on because the way I phrased things yesterday, it was sloppy and it was frankly dumb,” he said.

Of course, Carlson didn’t buy this, nor did anybody else. That’s where John Berman came in. On New Day, he proved to cohost Brianna Keilar that he’s watched a lot of Game of Thrones.

“Can I just say one more thing about Ted Cruz?” Berman asked. “It’s like 7:28 a.m. Ted Cruz, do you know where your spine is? I thought he handled it better in Game of Thrones when he was Theon Greyjoy to Ramsay Bolton there. Honestly, that was like Reek, that was like watching Reek in Game of Thrones there for how he was addressing him… I was so uncomfortable watching that.”

And the tradition of Game of Thrones cropping up in political discourse continues.

As for Cruz, this is his statement about the Capitol attack on his website:

"The attack at the Capitol was a despicable act of terrorism and a shocking assault on our democratic system…Now, we must come together and put this anger and division behind us. We must stand side-by-side as Americans. We must continue to defend our Constitution and the rule of law…We must, and I am confident we will, have a peaceful and orderly transition of power, pursuant to the Constitution."

I mean, he hasn’t taken it down…I guess that’s something.

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h/t Uproxx