Ted Cruz is getting a taste of what New York values really are.
During last night’s Republican presidential debate, the Texas senator doubled down on his criticism of opponent Donald Trump, who he said embodied “New York values” that were “socially liberal, pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion, focused on money and the media.”
Mr. Trump fired back, saying that real New York values were shown when the city worked together after the 9/11 attacks.
“We rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everyone in the world watched and loved New York and New Yorkers,” Mr. Trump said. “That was a very insulting statement that Ted made.”
Many New York politicians denounced Mr. Cruz’s remarks—Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a radio interview that if Mr. Cruz “had any class, he would apologize,” and Congressman Peter King told CNN that Mr. Cruz should “go back under a rock.” Even Mr. Trump’s rival Hillary Clinton tweeted support for him.
The New York media which Mr. Cruz criticized also fired back at him—today’s New York Daily News front page, which got a lot of play on social media, features the Statue of Liberty flipping the bird at Mr. Cruz, along with the headline “Drop Dead Ted” and the subhead “Hey, Cruz: You don’t like N.Y. values? Go back to Canada!”
Finally, New Yorkers as a whole banded together to show their Empire State pride on Twitter using the hashtag #NewYorkValues. By turns sarcastic and sincere, the hashtag aimed to show what truly made the city and state special:
https://twitter.com/eli313/status/688020320373096448
An unsurpassed diversity of people all managing to live together in close quarters without much problem.
Imagine that.#NewYorkValues
— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) January 15, 2016
Bashing tourists in quiet on a daily basis but always stopping to help someone who looks lost and asks for directions #NewYorkValues
— Amanda Brohman (@AmandaBrohman) January 15, 2016
Lived in NYC for nearly 2 decades. Worked for @nytimes for 12 yrs. Go to church every Sunday. #newyorkvalues
— Michael Luo (@michaelluo) January 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/NinaBernstein1/status/687843700588843010
https://twitter.com/Clarknt67/status/688021521391030273
Hey @tedcruz remember that time when you pissed off 8 million of the worlds most aggressively accomplished people? They will. #NewYorkValues
— Justin Guarini (@JustinGuarini) January 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/embeedub/status/688020293416271872
"Don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside." #NewYorkValues
— Bitter Script Reader (@BittrScrptReadr) January 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/688011538469400577
Strength, ambition, and an eternal willingness to take public transit. #NewYorkValues pic.twitter.com/OM5QGDjEb8
— Jennifer Wright (@JenAshleyWright) January 15, 2016
People who complain about #NewYorkValues are the same people who come to the city and only visit Times Square
— Mark S. Luckie (@marksluckie) January 15, 2016
Mr. Cruz has not yet publicly responded to the “New York values” controversy.
Disclosure: Donald Trump is the father-in-law of Jared Kushner, the publisher of Observer Media.
