--- title: John Boehner Calls Ted Cruz 'Lucifer in the Flesh' description: Former House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday evening called Republican Sen. Ted Cruz "Lucifer in the flesh" canonical: https://time.com/4310768/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-in-the-flesh/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-28T13:39:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T13:28:59.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: John Boehner Calls Ted Cruz 'Lucifer in the Flesh' og:description: "I have never worked with a more miserable son of a b---h in my life" og:url: https://time.com/4310768/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-in-the-flesh/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780de6f13362bf1f/698890fdcd1bba8280700763/ted-cruz-lucicer-john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Texas Senator Ted Cruz Interview og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Boehner Calls Ted Cruz 'Lucifer in the Flesh' twitter:description: "I have never worked with a more miserable son of a b---h in my life" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780de6f13362bf1f/698890fdcd1bba8280700763/ted-cruz-lucicer-john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John Boehner Calls Ted Cruz 'Lucifer in the Flesh' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f68b6f38-e4c3-4e51-aa76-3f4a09b86649&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Twitter Reacts To John Boehner's 'Lucifer in the flesh' Comment [Watch (HLS stream): Twitter Reacts To John Boehner's 'Lucifer in the flesh' Comment](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EkYtNhjt.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2016-04-28_ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 13, 2023 1:28 PM UTCPublished: Apr 28, 2016 1:39 PM UTC by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 13, 2023 1:28 PM UTCPublished: Apr 28, 2016 1:39 PM UTC Former House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday evening [called Republican Sen. Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh,](http://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/04/28/john-boehner-talks-election-time-in-office/)” a reflection of just how much the Cruz is disliked by many of his colleagues on Capitol Hill. In a talk at Stanford University on Wednesday evening, Boehner was asked about his views on the presidential candidates. “Lucifer in the flesh,” the former speaker said about Cruz to laughter, [according to the Stanford _Daily_](http://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/04/28/john-boehner-talks-election-time-in-office/)_,_ the university’s newspaper. “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a b—h in my life.” Cruz has positioned himself as an outsider on Capitol Hill, making few friends among his colleagues, who widely distrust and dislike him. Even among those who have endorsed him, support for Cruz is often a begrudging tactic to defeat the even more feared Donald Trump. “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said in February. Just six of Cruz’s Senate colleagues have endorsed him for president. The Texas senator has about 550 delegates compared with Donald Trump’s near-1000, and hopes to win the nomination at the Republican convention. On Wednesday [he chose former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as his running mate](http://time.com/4309812/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-vice-president-running-mate/?xid=homepage), a remarkable move so early in presidential contest. Cruz fired back Thursday morning in a Tweet, using Boehner to position himself as more of a Washington outsider than Donald Trump: > [](https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/725692012129849345) ## Transcript [00:31] [ MUSIC ] When [00:53] John Boehner calls me Lucifer he's not directing that at [00:57] me He's directing at you. I've never worked with John [00:57] Mayer. Truth of the matter is, I don't know the man. [00:57] I've met John Mayer two or three times in [01:06] my life. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4310768/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-in-the-flesh/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4310768/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-in-the-flesh/"},"headline":"John Boehner Calls Ted Cruz 'Lucifer in the Flesh'","datePublished":"2016-04-28T13:39:06.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T13:28:59.000Z","description":"\"I have never worked with a more miserable son of a b---h in my life\"","url":"https://time.com/4310768/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-in-the-flesh/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","John Boehner","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780de6f13362bf1f/698890fdcd1bba8280700763/ted-cruz-lucicer-john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780de6f13362bf1f/698890fdcd1bba8280700763/ted-cruz-lucicer-john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Texas Senator Ted Cruz Interview","caption":"Senator Ted Cruz in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2014.","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4310768/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-in-the-flesh/","name":"John Boehner Calls Ted Cruz 'Lucifer in the Flesh'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Twitter Reacts To John Boehner's 'Lucifer in the flesh' Comment","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EkYtNhjt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-28T21:10:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EkYtNhjt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4310768/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-in-the-flesh/","duration":"PT1M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4310768/john-boehner-ted-cruz-lucifer-in-the-flesh/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```