Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz offered a glimpse into his early political career on Sunday, recounting his years as an “arrogant little snob” long before he became a fierce Texas senator and conservative firebrand.
Cruz, who is touring to promote his campaign and his new book, A Time for Truth, said on NBC’s Meet the Press that he “desperately wanted” to hold a senior position at the White House while serving on George W. Bush’s presidential campaign in 2000.
“Frankly, I wanted to be … Michael J. Fox’s character in The American President, a young, idealistic staffer in the Oval Office, saying, ‘Mr. President, do the right thing,'” Cruz said. “And that didn’t happen, and it became clear it wasn’t going to happen because I had burned too many bridges.”
Cruz also recalled how, in his 20s, he had learned to be less “cocky”—otherwise, he said, thousands of grassroots activists wouldn’t have propelled him to victory during his 2012 Senate campaign.
“You can’t run a grassroots campaign if you’re an arrogant little snob,” Cruz said. “I needed to get my teeth kicked in.”
Read next: How Ted Cruz Plans to Disrupt the GOP Presidential Primary
[NBC]
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