Poor Ted Cruz. He lost the Republican presidential nomination to a walking, mouth-breathing political disaster, and he can’t even get a proper hug.
After dropping out of the GOP race in light of a devastating loss in the Indiana primary, Cruz pulled his father, Rafael, in for a three-way embrace with Cruz’s wife, Heidi. It became painfully clear that they had never rehearsed this kind of complex arm-and-torso situation before.
Heidi has endured the worst this election season has had to offer. She soldiered on when the Trump campaign attacked her appearance and mental health. And it’s all culminated in a final stroke of indignity: a fist and an elbow to the face, on national television, as her husband admits defeat.
Cruz’s awkward physicality, which recently busted what should have been a convincing victory pose with then–running mate Carly Fiorina, was a sore spot throughout his campaign. It feels right that Cruz’s run ended not with a bang, but with a failed attempt at intimacy.
