Secret Donor Recordings Catch Cruz Attacking Trump Tariffs and Vance

Axios obtained nearly 10 minutes of secret audio from two 2025 donor meetings in which Sen. Ted Cruz harshly criticizes President Trump’s tariff strategy and Vice President JD Vance, underscoring deep internal GOP rifts ahead of 2028. On the tapes, Cruz warns donors that Trump’s April 2025 tariffs could tank 401(k)s by 30%, push grocery prices up 10–20%, cost Republicans the House and Senate in 2026, and leave Trump 'being impeached every single week'—claims he says sparked a profane 'F**k you, Ted' response from the president during a late‑night call. Cruz repeatedly portrays Vance as a creation and proxy of Tucker Carlson, alleging the two pushed out then–national security adviser Mike Waltz for backing airstrikes on Iran and helped install Army veteran Daniel Davis, whom Cruz calls 'a guy who viciously hates Israel,' in a top intelligence role before he was quickly removed. The comments, far sharper than Cruz’s public posture, reveal him staking out a traditional free‑trade, hawkish foreign‑policy lane and positioning for a possible 2028 presidential primary clash with the more protectionist, less interventionist Vance wing of the party. The leak will fuel online chatter about a looming civil war inside the GOP over tariffs, Ukraine and Iran, and about how many Republicans privately fear Trump’s trade agenda could backfire economically and politically even as they stay publicly loyal.