CROWD CONTROL
Senator Ted Cruz’s daughter’s ‘cringe’ reaction on stage during dad’s victory speech as she blasts ‘don’t clap for that’
A number of commenters spoke supportively of Caroline's sassy reaction to her father
A VIDEO of Senator Ted Cruz's teen daughter's cringeworthy reaction to her father's victory speech has gone viral.
During his speech on Tuesday night after winning reelection in Texas, Senator Cruz said, "I hope and pray that Donald Trump will be reelected president of the United States."
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The crowd and Ted Cruz's wife Heidi cheer and applaud.
At that point, their daughter Caroline, 16, standing between her parents, visibly grimaces and raises her eyebrows, turning her head to look at her mother.
Wearing a red dress, she scrunches up her face and says something to her mother.
A of the moment posted on TikTok on election night by user had been viewed almost 10 million times by Friday morning.
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Budding lipreaders claimed that Caroline says "Don't clap for that," to her mother.
Heidi then turns to look at Caroline and stops applauding.
A number of commenters spoke supportively of Caroline's sassy reaction to her father.
"Caroline Cruz. Legend," wrote one TikTok user.
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"She didn't even try to hide it," said a second.
"Caroline Cruz is that girl," a third user added.
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Another version of the clip was shared on X on Thursday by anti-Trump account @TheTNHoller.
Donald Trump previously insulted Ted Cruz's wife publicly during his first run for president in 2016 when they were both in the race to be the Republican candidate.
Cruz was accused of having numerous affairs while married to Heidi in an unsubstantiated article by the National Enquirer, something Cruz denied.
He then accused Trump of planting the article.
Trump posted a meme on Twitter in response with an unflattering picture of Heidi Cruz alongside his own wife Melania Trump.
"A picture is worth a thousand words," he wrote underneath.
Despite that, Cruz went on to endorse Trump for president and has been a loyal supporter of his in the Senate ever since.
He was one of the 11 Republican Senators who tried to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election victory days before the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Heidi and Ted Cruz have two daughters, Caroline, 16, and 13-year-old Catherine.
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Caroline previously made headlines when, in 2021, at age 13, she made a TikTok saying she disagreed with most of her father's views.
"A lot of people judge me based upon him at first glance, but I really disagree with most of his views," she said.
She also spoke about the challenges of being the daughter of a senior politician.
"Some of the bad things are, I literally have to have security following me everywhere," she said.
"Like, if I want to go on a walk through the neighborhood, like to my friend's house or something, I have to have, like, two security guards behind me the entire time."
Her TikTok account was then set to private.
THE CRUZ CLAN
TED Cruz, the Texas senator since 2013, is married with two daughters.
He and his wife Heidi started dating in 2001, getting engaged and then married just five months later.
They met while they were both working for George W Bush and went on a date at an Austin bar, starting a whirlwind romance.
At their wedding, Ted reportedly insisted that the song A Whole New World from Disney's Aladdin was played, something Heidi apparently resisted.
Their first daughter Caroline was born in 2008 and her younger sister Catherine was born three years later.
Both girls were sent to an exclusive private school in Northwest Washington DC where fees cost upwards of $40,000.
In the wake of her viral moment at her father's victory speech, Caroline has made a dramatic return to TikTok.
Sharing a picture from the speech of her with her arm around her younger sister, Caroline wrote, "Been a minute since I last posted!"
She also went viral in December of that year after she was spotted looking miserable in the Cruz family Christmas card.
On November 5, Cruz won a third consecutive term, defeating Democratic Rep. and former NFL star Colin Alldred.
Polls in the run-up to election day showed the pair neck-and-neck in the polls, but in the end, he won relatively comfortably 54% to 43%.
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That pattern was replicated at the national level, where despite weeks of the polls showing a tight race, Trump ended up defeating Democrat Kamala Harris soundly.
In a stunning political comeback, the 78-year-old won his second term, and looks set to sweep every swing state.
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