Ted Cruz: ‘On 9/11, I Didn’t Like How Rock Music Responded’
Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz stopped listening to rock and roll and took up country music after 9/11. The 44-year-old Republican Texas senator, who announced he would be running for president this week, recently fielded questions about his personality on CBS This Morning, where he revealed the change in his listening habits.
“Music is interesting,” he said. “I grew up listening to classic rock, and I’ll tell you sort of an odd story: My music taste changed on 9/11. And it’s very strange. I actually intellectually find this very curious. But on 9/11, I didn’t like how rock music responded. And country music collectively, the way they responded, it resonated with me.
“And I have to say, it just is a gut-level. I had an emotional reaction that says, these are my people,” Cruz said of country artists. “So ever since 2001, I listen to country music. But I’m an odd country music fan, because I didn’t listen to it prior to 2001.”
The senator did not expound on which classic rock artists lost him or which country artists he has become a fan of over the past 14 years.
Cruz also revealed his television viewing habits during the interview. “On TV, I just finished the third season of House of Cards,” he said. Then, after the newscasters applauded his taste, he joked, “Fortunately, there are fewer murders in politics in real life.”
He also finished a sentence for the hosts: “I should be elected president because…” His response: “because I’ll tell the truth and I’ll do what I said I would do.”
Gayle King responded, “We shall see,” to which Cruz nervously chuckled.
Cruz, who (in)famously gave a 21-hour speech, including a recitation of Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham, to filibuster Obama’s Affordable Care Act, announced his intention to run for president in 2016 on Monday. He is currently serving his first term as a senator. According to The New York Times, his platforms include repealing the Affordable Care Act, ending the IRS, and – in his words – “defend[ing] the sanctity of human life and uphold[ing] the sacrament of marriage.”