--- ---  # 'Please Check Spine at the Door.' Stephen Colbert Tears Into Ted Cruz's Dinner With Trump by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Mar 10, 2017 4:07 PM UTC  The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York, on Feb 15, 2017. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York, on Feb 15, 2017.Gail Schulman—CBS/Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Mar 10, 2017 4:07 PM UTC Although Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and President Donald Trump spent months slinging insults [back and forth](http://time.com/4506350/donald-trump-ted-cruz-insults/) during some of the most bitter moments of the [2016 GOP primary](http://time.com/4696396/donald-trump-ted-cruz-marco-rubio/) campaign, the President and First Lady [hosted Cruz and his family](http://time.com/4686828/donald-trump-congress-address-reading-level/) for what Cruz said was a “principally a social dinner” on Wednesday. Stephen Colbert couldn’t help feasting on the history of the rivalry. Just as he satirized [Trump’s dinner with Mitt Romney before it](http://time.com/4587276/donald-trump-mitt-romney-dinner-stephen-colbert/), the host served up a large helping of jokes during the opening monologue on Thursday’s _The Late Show_. Colbert kicked off by cycling through a series of insults Cruz and Trump have traded, including the times Trump called him “lyin’ Ted” in tweets. Not to mention Trump’s baseless accusation that Cruz’s father helped assassinate John F. Kennedy and the speech where Cruz dubbed Trump a “pathological liar.” “I doubt Trump apologized for anything he said. It’s not his style,” Colbert said before reading off a mock formal invitation with great ceremony. “You and your wife — who’s a 3 at best — are invited to dinner,” he quipped, adding, “Please check spine at the door.” Watch the full clip below. Stephen Colbert Tears Into Ted Cruz's Dinner With Trump ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4697973/stephen-colbert-ted-cruz-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4697973/stephen-colbert-ted-cruz-trump/"},"headline":"'Please Check Spine at the Door.' Stephen Colbert Tears Into Ted Cruz's Dinner With Trump","datePublished":"2017-03-10T16:07:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:41:47.698Z","description":"The Late Show host feasts on the rivalry","url":"https://time.com/4697973/stephen-colbert-ted-cruz-trump/","keywords":["Newsfeed","stephen colbert","Donald Trump","Late Night Television","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d2eb0eea0c200f6/6988bd86bc6cfc7fc23e06f4/colbert1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d2eb0eea0c200f6/6988bd86bc6cfc7fc23e06f4/colbert1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","caption":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","creditText":"Gail Schulman—CBS/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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4697973/stephen-colbert-ted-cruz-trump/","name":"'Please Check Spine at the Door.' Stephen Colbert Tears Into Ted Cruz's Dinner With Trump"}}]}] ```