--- title: Young Ted Cruz Jokes About Wanting to 'Take Over the World' description: Video showing an apparently 18-year-old Ted Cruz listing his hopes for the future surfaced this weekend canonical: https://time.com/4192725/ted-cruz-teen-video/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-25T18:30:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:25:06.134Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch a Young Ted Cruz Joke About Wanting to 'Take Over the World' og:description: “Take over the world, world domination, you know, rule everything” og:url: https://time.com/4192725/ted-cruz-teen-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1384dd44e2a17589/698879b6e20a876815a8f1f9/ted-cruz-sarah-palin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to guests at the 2016 South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention on January 16, 2016 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch a Young Ted Cruz Joke About Wanting to 'Take Over the World' twitter:description: “Take over the world, world domination, you know, rule everything” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1384dd44e2a17589/698879b6e20a876815a8f1f9/ted-cruz-sarah-palin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch a Young Ted Cruz Joke About Wanting to 'Take Over the World' by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 25, 2016 6:30 PM CUT  Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to guests at the 2016 South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention on January 16, 2016 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to guests at the 2016 South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention on January 16, 2016 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 25, 2016 6:30 PM CUT A video where a young Ted Cruz jokes about his desire for world domination surfaced over the weekend. Cruz, then a senior at Second Baptist School in Houston, jokes about his aspirations in the video. “Take over the world, world domination, you know, rule everything,” Cruz replies when questioned about his aspirations. “Rich, powerful, that sort of stuff.” The future Texas Senator appears to be about 18 years old in a 30-second clip that found its way on YouTube Saturday, posted under the username Young Ted Cruz. The author told Politico that [the video was provided by a high school classmate](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/ted-cruz-teen-world-domination-218148#ixzz3yHRVyGCX "undefined") of Cruz, who wished to remain anonymous. A week out from the Iowa Caucus, the Cruz campaign took a moment away from [attacking front-runner Donald Trump](http://time.com/4189975/donald-trump-ted-cruz-immigration-ad/ "undefined") to laugh. When asked about the clip spokesman Rick Tyler told Politico, “Good to see he’s always had a great sense of humor.” And that humor shines, especially when Cruz plays dumb at the start of the video, sharing a well-timed joke. “Aspirations, is that like sweat on my butt?” Cruz opens. “No no, oh I see, what you want me to do; what I want to do in life.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4192725/ted-cruz-teen-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4192725/ted-cruz-teen-video/"},"headline":"Watch a Young Ted Cruz Joke About Wanting to 'Take Over the World'","datePublished":"2016-01-25T18:30:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:25:06.134Z","description":"\"Aspirations, is that like sweat on my butt?\"","url":"https://time.com/4192725/ted-cruz-teen-video/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","YouTube","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1384dd44e2a17589/698879b6e20a876815a8f1f9/ted-cruz-sarah-palin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1384dd44e2a17589/698879b6e20a876815a8f1f9/ted-cruz-sarah-palin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential candidate Sen. 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