Trump defends calling Cruz ‘a pussy’

Donald Trump said Tuesday that one of his supporters was “just having fun” calling Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) “a pussy” the night before.

“We were all just having fun,” he said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” downplaying an incident getting widespread attention.

{mosads}“I was just repeating what she said so everyone could hear,” Trump said of the epithet. “I was doing everybody a favor.

“I got a standing ovation. The place went wild. You’re talking about close to 5,000 people. It was a great moment. The world is politically correct.”

Trump late Monday evening echoed a fan who labeled Cruz “a pussy” over the lawmaker’s position on waterboarding. The outspoken billionaire playfully reprimanded the woman in his audience for uttering “a terrible” thing” as the crowd cheered and laughed.

Trump vowed his potential presidency would implement “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding” during last weekend’s eighth GOP presidential debate. Cruz struck a more moderate response instead, arguing he would not employ the enhanced interrogation tactic in “widespread use” as commander in chief.

The New York business mogul joked about the exchange during a separate interview Tuesday morning.

“It wasn’t overly bad,” Trump said on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”  

“It was like a retweet. I would never say a word like that. Every once in a while you can have a little fun, don’t you think?”

Trump’s defense of his supporter comes the same day as New Hampshire’s presidential primary. The real estate tycoon has a wide lead heading into the contest, owning an advantage of 17 percentage points. 

“It was like a retweet.” @realDonaldTrump on repeating a supporter’s colorful comment about Ted Cruzhttps://t.co/jvGyit3Bau

— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) February 9, 2016