Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is being ridiculed after warning against the dangers posed by billionaire presidents, failing to consider that his criticisms might also apply to his ally Donald Trump.

Guesting on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show Tuesday, the GOP senator warned against the dangers posed by the “radical left” following the recent successes of democratic socialist candidates in state elections, most spectacularly Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s triumphant run for City Hall in New York last year.

“Mamdani is not a socialist, he is a Marxist, he is a full-on communist,” Cruz told Hannity. “The [Democratic Socialists of America] candidates that he supported, that won in New York, are full-on communists. The DSA candidates who won in Colorado are full-on communists.”

The senator, who is of Cuban heritage, went on to claim that his father Rafael Cruz had been imprisoned and tortured by Fidel Castro’s revolutionaries and declared: “Violence is part of the plan. That’s not a bug – it is a feature. It is the objective.

“This is who the communists are. The radical left is perfectly fine with using violence to attack its enemies.”

After attacking leftist “idiots,” whom he claimed had celebrated the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by getting tattoos of his accused killer Luigi Mangione, Cruz pivoted to attacking authoritarian leaders who enrich themselves in high office.

“You know who does own a pied-a-terre?” he asked. “That would be Comrade Mamdani, who has a palatial estate in Uganda. But that’s always the case.

“Castro was a billionaire. Putin is a billionaire. The leaders of communist regimes are always rich. They steal and rob from those they govern.”

Brandon Richards, a staffer for California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, was one of many to respond to a clip of Cruz’s remarks circulating on X by marveling at his failure to spot their wider ramifications.

“Cancun Cruz not self aware enough to realize what he just admitted about Trump…,” he wrote, referring to the senator by an unwanted nickname he acquired after going on vacation while his state was in crisis in February 2021.

“Donald Trump made more money in the last year and a half than in his entire life,” said Missouri congressional candidate Fred Wellman. “What is that called Ted Cruz?”

“Think about it for 10 more seconds bud,” advised Rolling Stone reporter Nikki McCann Ramirez.

Cruz’s attack could be interpreted as the latest implicit acknowledgement of Republican anxiety over November’s midterms, which they are widely expected to lose as a consequence of Trump’s languishing approval ratings.

His caution to voters against being enticed by the left came a night after Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert hosted a show on OAN in which she claimed the U.S. electoral system remains vulnerable to fraud, a talking point the president has revived in recent weeks, presumably anticipating defeat and preparing to challenge that outcome.

A politician whom commentators have long taken a particular delight in mocking, Cruz has been regularly scorned over his loyal support for Trump – a man who labelled him “Lyin’ Ted” and publicly insulted his wife Heidi when the two men were rivals for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

He has also been derided for spending more time on his podcast than governing and for being unable to answer elementary questions about Iran while lobbying for greater U.S. military aggression against the country.