White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday responded to Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) criticism of her, comparing her to the “Peanuts” character Peppermint Patty.
A reporter made Psaki aware of comments Cruz made during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday night, saying that she wanted to give the press secretary an opportunity to respond.
“Senator Ted Cruz is speaking at CPAC and you came up,” the reporter told Psaki. “He called you quote-unquote Peppermint Patty and has encouraged people to boo you.”
“Don’t tell him I like Peppermint Patty,” Psaki responded. “So I’m not going to take it too offensively. Senator Cruz, I like Peppermint Patty. I’m a little tougher than that. But there you go.”
Cruz made the comparison while commenting on Psaki’s response to the controversy surrounding conservative podcaster Joe Rogan earlier this year. As he mentioned her name, he encouraged the crowd to boo, saying “you know, Peppermint Patty deserves some love.”
Cruz also criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and President Biden during his CPAC speech, envisioning a future in which Democrats did not hold a majority in Congress.
“In January of 2023, I’m looking forward to walking down the hallway of the United States Capitol and then bumping in to a little man wearing overalls carrying a screwdriver and coming to change the sign on Nancy Pelosi’s door,” he said.
“And Nancy is going to get on her broom … okay no that’s not fair, that’s not fair. She’s going to get on her private jet, called the ‘USS Broom,’ and fly back to California. And we’re going to send Chuck Schumer back to New York City. And then we’re going to tell Joe Biden it’s 2025 and he’ll just wander back to Delaware,” Cruz continued.