Donald Trump just kind of accused Ted Cruz's father of helping to assassinate JFK
Hold on to your tinfoil hats — Donald Trump just accused Ted Cruz's father of possibly having a hand in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The comment was made during Trump's phone-in to Fox and Friends on Tuesday, when the Republican frontrunner was asked about Cruz's father, Rafael Cruz, who has been actively imploring evangelical voters to support his son.
"You look at so many of the ministers that are backing me, and they're backing me more so than they're backing Cruz, and I'm winning the evangelical vote. It's disgraceful that his father can go out and do that," Trump ranted.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Then things get weird. Trump goes on to claim that Rafael Cruz is an unidentified man in an August 1963 photograph with JFK-assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, where the pair is seen handing out pro-Castro pamphlets in New Orleans.
However, the theory that the mystery man in the photograph is Rafael Cruz was first floated by the dubious tabloid National Enquirer, and has since been dismissed as "another garbage story in a tabloid full of garbage" by Cruz's campaign. Experts on the JFK assassination also agree there is no evidence at all to corroborate Rafael Cruz's affiliation with Oswald in any way.
Not everyone is convinced, apparently. "Nobody talks about it...What [Rafael Castro] was doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death — before the shooting. It's horrible," Trump said.
Watch below, beginning at 5 minutes in. Jeva Lange
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
The return to the stone age in house buildingUnder the Radar With brick building becoming ‘increasingly unsustainable’, could a reversion to stone be the future?
-
Rob Jetten: the centrist millennial set to be the Netherlands’ next prime ministerIn the Spotlight Jetten will also be the country’s first gay leader
-
Codeword: November 4, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
