Going on a Bad Cruz

Last night on The Daily Show, Trevor Noah had a segment that was a big take-down of Sen. Cruz (R-TX), focusing on how disliked he was -- including an extended quote from a podcast by his college roommate, Craig Maizin, who was scathingly critical about him, hilariously so in as blunt terms as you can imagine.

If you saw the segment -- or even if you didn't -- there's something else about it which is important to know but got left out.  I know Craig Mazin a very little bit from the Writers Guild of America, where he's a screenwriter.  Not much, and I suspect I wouldn't recognize him or him me if we crossed paths at a WGA event-- we've met once, and I didn't care much for the conversation, and we had a couple of email exchanges during the last Writers Guild strike in which we had sharp disagreements, and he was pretty pissed off at me.  Though I feel pretty comfortable on my position. and I think I assuaged some of his concerns at the end.  (Not of what I said, but the reasons why.)   We have some mutual friends, and my sense is that Craig Mazin wouldn't want to be buddies with me any more than I with him.  Which is fine.  But from his wonderful comments about hating his old college roommate Ted Cruz, it probably comes across like he's moderate politically, if not even a touch towards liberal, since he talks several times about having "plenty of problems with him about his politics" and not agreeing with Sen. Cruz on issues.

In fact, though, making his slamming of Ted Cruz all the more pointed, Craig Mazin is a seriously conservative fellow.  One mutual friend, who's very far right, laughingly says that when he talks politics with Craig it makes him seem like a moderate.  I don't say this pejoratively, but descriptively.  I have no idea what issues Craig Mazin disagrees with Ted Cruz over -- whether he thinks the Republican senator isn't conservative enough, or if he feels Mr. Cruz's positions are too insanely cruel and mean-spirited for anyone with a soul.  It doesn't matter.  Because the point I want to make here is that there's this fellow on the Daily Show video slamming Ted Cruz as harshly as one can about what a truly awful "nightmare" of a person the senator is -- and it's important to know that this is not someone from the other side of the aisle, one of those damn liberals who only want to ruin America.  Not even remotely.

Keep that in mind as you watch the segment.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
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