--- 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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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. 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  Senator Ted Cruz in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2014. Senator Ted Cruz in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2014.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images 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) ```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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/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'"}}]}] ```