Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rick Scott Just Got Their Cojones Handed to Them by Steve Schmidt
Lincoln Project Co-Founder Steve Schmidt has been pummelling Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) – both of whom are failed presidential candidates, and Rick Scott (R-FL) – a convicted felon who was catapulted to infamy when he got busted running a $1.7 billion Medicare fraud scheme in Florida prior to becoming its 45th governor – on Twitter. For two days.

On Monday night, after actress Eva Longoria gave an emotional speech at the opening night of the 2020 Democratic National Covention, Rubio tried come for her on Twitter.
“Brilliant move! No one is more in touch with the challenges & obstacles faced by everyday Americans than actors & celebrities,” Rubio tweeted, conveniently forgetting that prior to becoming president of the United States, Donald Trump was a defunkt reality television show host.
Brilliant move! No one is more in touch with the challenges & obstacles faced by everyday Americans than actors & celebrities. https://t.co/nzHOniMHPN
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 18, 2020
In a series of tweets in the wee hours of Tuesday morning Schmidt, a bullhorn critic of Trump and his gaggle of elected brownnosers, tore Rubio to shreds.
“I was just thinking about you. Your Father fled Castro’s tyranny with nothing but the clothes on his back. He tended bar in the back of the room and watched you rise to the heights of political power within one generation. Only in America. Of course, the origin story was an embellishment,” Schmidt tweeted.
I was just thinking about you. Your Father fled Castro’s tyranny with nothing but the clothes on his back. He tended bar in the back of the room and watched you rise to the heights of political power within one generation. Only in America. Of course, the origin story was an https://t.co/PXXoGqqZKQ
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 18, 2020
“Your parents came in ‘56. They weren’t fleeing communism. They were just looking for a better life like the hard working immigrants you have abandoned because you fear Trump and love your position. We are living in a moment where our institutions are under assault and Trump is attacking our 231 year old tradition of free and fair elections. At long last we know the type of man Marco Rubio is. He is no friend of liberty. He is an apparatchik at heart. A self interested enabler and a collaborator with the indecency he once denounced.”
assault and Trump is attacking our 231 year old tradition of free and fair elections. At long last we know the type of man Marco Rubio is. He is no friend of liberty. He is an apparatchik at heart. A self interested enabler and a collaborator with the indecency he once denounced.
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 18, 2020
“Rubio is the type of man who would have stayed in Cuba in 59,” Schmidt continued. “He is the type of ambitious young man who would have sensed new opportunities. He is the type of man who would have gladly held Castro’s coat if it helped him rise, just a little. @ProjectLincoln“
Rubio is the type of man who would have stayed in Cuba 🇨🇺 in 59. He is the type of ambitious young man who would have sensed new opportunities. He is the type of man who would have gladly held Castro’s coat if it helped him rise, just a little. @ProjectLincoln
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 18, 2020
Rubio fired back.
“Schmidt is the type of man who turns to political prostitution,” Rubio tweeted of Schmidt. “The type of washed up man who sensed new opportunities to make some $. The type of man who gladly supports a party with prominent members who sympathize with Castro because it helps him be relevant, just a little.”
Schmidt is the type of man who turns to political prostitution. The type of washed up man who sensed new opportunities to make some $. The type of man who gladly supports a party with prominent members who sympathize with Castro because it helps him be relevant, just a little. https://t.co/2Hp6qykLT1
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 18, 2020
Rubio’s fellow Republican Senator from Florida, stepped in to defend his colleague.
Marco is right. Steve Schmidt has always hated conservatives. His opinion is meaningless.
Telling a Cuban-American leader like @marcorubio that he would have supported Castro is offensive and idiotic. https://t.co/FFG9dOvRjw
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) August 18, 2020
Then, on Wednesday, Cruz, who was born in Canada to Cuban refugees, chimed in to defend Rubio.
“Marco & I haven’t always agreed, but to see him slandered by this oleaginous cretin is shameful,” Cruz said. “Schmidt wouldn’t understand—he’s spent his life serving, & then betraying, powerful men—but for those whose families suffered & bled under Castro’s tyrannny, this is beyond the pale.”
Marco & I haven’t always agreed, but to see him slandered by this oleaginous cretin is shameful. Schmidt wouldn’t understand—he’s spent his life serving, & then betraying, powerful men—but for those whose families suffered & bled under Castro’s tyrannny, this is beyond the pale. https://t.co/PxKnvU6MUw
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 18, 2020
Schmidt left Rubio, Cruz, and Scott in ruins.
attacked your Wife, the Mother of your daughters and your Father. You debase yourself to maintain his favor for the low purpose of protecting your position and title. During this hour of crisis you could have stood up for American democracy, security and simple decency. You 2/
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 19, 2020
you once decried. You both became lackeys for the conman you once denounced. Is it fair to speculate how the both of you would have behaved at a different place and a different time in history? Is it fair to speculate what you would do if a demagogic leader with an autocratic
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 19, 2020
for dead Americans would you condemn him? If his idiocy and incompetence led to the deaths of 170,000 souls, a wrecked economy and a million shattered dreams would you say enough!? What would you say if peaceful protestors exercising their god given rights to speech and assembly
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 19, 2020
Exception of America? No doubt Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio look in the mirror and see leaders staring back. The rest of us see Joiners because that is what they are. The Senate Intelligence Committee issued a report yesterday. Let’s call it the Rubio Report because he is the
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 19, 2020
Marco Rubio of course did what he always does. He did what Trump expected. He gaslit the American people by saying the report said the opposite of what in fact it said. Would Rubio have given up his position of power and privilege in 1959 Cuba to fight back against the tyrant?
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 19, 2020
Country it is important to always remember he had help. He couldn’t have done it without his accomplices and enablers. It is always so. Lastly, there seems to be some confusion on the part of the Ted Cruz’s and Marco Rubio’s of the world about why so many people are peacefully
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 19, 2020
Trump next to you guys. Doesn’t seem fair. @ProjectLincoln PS. Just for Ted, My favorite Presidential directive from the 04 campaign will always be when GWB said of you, “I never want to see that asshole on TV with my name next to his.” You do seem to summon strong reactions
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 19, 2020
I guess the argument is that Marco would be a great champion of freedom and a foe of illiberalism, autocracy and corruption in all the other countries except America. He’s huge in Belarus 🇧🇾 as they say. https://t.co/r0CZTWVviX
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 19, 2020
When I think about @tedcruz calling me an oleaginous cretin, a shameful one at that, I picture him wearing a black cape and dramatically ruffling it as he waddles away. Maybe it’s just me. Quarantine imagination? https://t.co/mKENUklSCU
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 19, 2020
For the record, Schmidt has not “always hated concervatives,” and has never claimed to. Schmidt began his career and worked as a Republican activist and strategist from 1988-2018. He was also John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign manager. Schmidt swtiched his party affiliation from Republican to Independent in 2018 because the GOP he knew and loved surrendered to President Donald Trump’s political cult. In 2019, Schmidt became a founding member the Lincoln Project, a political action committee for Republicans who want Trump gone.