What's in a name?

I was just wondering how Ted Cruz's right-wing, lily-white supporters would feel about old Ted if they knew his first name is actually Rafael.

TrusRafael?

I don't know that that means. Sounds like some kind of Arab food.

Everyone knows that Ted is just a nickname, but I had never stopped to consider what Cruz's name was. My wife mentioned it when she was telling me about running into a friend of Cruz's wife. His wife was born and raised here and her father is a dentist in town. But please don't hold that against us. By the way, the wife's friend said that she thinks "Ted" is a complete asshole.

Cruz's slogan is "TrusTed."

Yeah, all of his Senate colleagues say he's a total dick too. But as you said, that doesn't necessarily preclude one from getting elected president. It might limit their effectiveness with Congress, and eventually their public image will suffer, but campaigns are pretty much designed to hide the truth.