How Sarah Palin Made Ted Cruz's Day So Much Worse

You could say Tuesday was already a pretty bad day for Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz. Less than two weeks before the Iowa electoral caucuses, the state's governor Terry Branstad urged Iowans not to support Cruz. Well, just hours later, Cruz got shut down again. And the second round diss was from someone he previously said was a big help in getting him elected to his current office. This is how Sarah Palin made Ted Cruz's day 100 times worse than it already was.

The day got off to a rough start when Branstad literally gave a flat-out "yes" to a reporter's question on whether the governor wanted Cruz to be defeated in his state. It was all downhill from there. After opposing candidate Donald Trump claimed to have a "special guest" lined up for his Iowa State University rally, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin joined Trump at the event to give her official endorsement for the presidential hopeful. Palin heartily endorsed Cruz during his Texas Senate run back in 2012, but a follow-up just wasn't in the cards for Cruz with Donald J. Trump in the running. Palin expressed no hesitation in plainly referring to Trump as the country's next president while on stage Tuesday.

Cruz took the non-endorsement like a champ. Actually, he took it like a champ before Palin made the official announcement and appeared at the Trump campaign rally in Iowa later on Tuesday. Cruz told reporters while campaigning in New Hampshire earlier in the day:

I love Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin is fantastic. Without her friendship and support, I wouldn't be in the Senate today, and so regardless of what Sarah decides to do in 2016, I will always remain a big, big fan of Sarah Palin.

So it is possible that while Cruz may have put on his strong face when there was nothing yet to lament, Palin's backing of Team Trump caused the Texas senator some emotional devastation when all was said and done. What's for certain is one of Cruz's campaign spokespersons didn't take that news all that well. In a CNN interview, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler put forward the idea that the person a Trump endorsement actually hurts is Palin herself.

I think it'd be a blow to Sarah Palin because Sarah Palin has been a champion for the conservative cause, and if she was going to endorse Donald Trump, sadly she would be endorsing someone who's held progressive views all their life.

If Cruz was trying to keep it friendly with his personal statement, Tyler's remarks pretty much undid any attempt at keeping the peace. Palin's daughter Bristol wrote a harsh blog post on Cruz "turning against [her] mom."

Palin then tweeted a link to the post with the header, "Is THIS Why People Don't like Cruz?" Ouch.