Trump privately grumbled that Ted Cruz 'shouldn't even exist' and that he 'could've destroyed him' in 2016, report says

• Sen. Ted Cruz hasn't endorsed Trump yet, and it's starting to irk the former president.
• Trump reportedly said Cruz "shouldn't even exist" and that he "could've destroyed him" in 2016.

Sen. Ted Cruz has yet to endorse Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, and it's clearly starting to irk the former president.

In a Truth Social post last month, Trump warned that both the Texas Republican and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri "must be very careful" in their 2024 reelection bids.

Hawley, who otherwise faces a relatively easy path to reelection next year, quickly endorsed Trump after that.

But Cruz is continuing to hold out, despite recently telling POLITICO that he would "enthusiastically support" the former president if he becomes the GOP nominee while declaring that Trump "had no stronger ally in the Senate than me" during his tenure.

Several former Cruz aides, including GOP consultant Jeff Roe, have also worked to elect Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

For Trump, that's apparently surfacing old tensions between the two men from the 2016 campaign.

"Ted — he shouldn't even exist," Trump has privately said, according to the New York Times. "I could've destroyed him. I kind of did destroy him in 2016, if you think about it. But then I let him live."

That year, Cruz famously told delegates at the Republican National Convention to "vote your conscience" after a bitterly fought primary between the two men.

The Texas senator later became a staunch ally of Trump in the Senate, including leading the charge to vote against the certification of Electoral College votes following the 2020 election.

But while Cruz remains one prominent holdout, much of the GOP has endorsed the former president's 2024 campaign, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and nearly the entirety of House GOP leadership.