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In 2016, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, then a Republican presidential candidate, said, "We're liable to wake up one morning and Donald, if he were president, would have nuked Denmark."
Rating:In January 2026, a decade-old video (archived) circulated online of then-Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz speaking about Donald Trump at a campaign event in New Hampshire. According the video, the U.S. senator from Texas said, "We're liable to wake up one morning and Donald, if he were president, would have nuked Denmark."
The alleged quote also circulated on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived).
The clip circulated as tensions heightened over the Trump administration's stated desire to acquire Greenland, an island in the Arctic that is an autonomous territory of Denmark. At the time of this writing, the administration had not ruled out using military power to take the island, and Denmark and its European allies had reportedly increased their military presence in the region.
Social media users who shared the quote correctly attributed it to Cruz. Cruz spoke the words when he answered a journalist's question during a press event in Goffstown, New Hampshire, on Feb. 3, 2016, according to C-SPAN (archived).
Cruz said of his Trump's social media posts (at 4:21, emphasis ours):
I don't know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way having his finger on the button. I mean, we're liable to wake up one morning and Donald, if he were president, would have nuked Denmark. That's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe.
Cruz was the first candidate to enter the Republican Party's primaries for the 2016 presidential election, positioning himself as a conservative alternative to Trump. Cruz dropped out of that race in early May 2016, around three months after making the remark about Trump nuking Denmark.
Trump would go on to win the Republican nomination and the presidential election in 2016.
Cruz later revised his opinion of Trump, including endorsing him in the Republican primaries leading into the 2024 U.S. presidential election that he would go on to win.
SourcesKirby, Paul. 'European Military Personnel Arrive in Greenland as Trump Says US Needs Island'. BBC News, 15 Jan. 2026, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0ydjvxpejo.
Melhado, William, et al. 'Ted Cruz Endorses Donald Trump for President'. The Texas Tribune, 17 Jan. 2024, https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/16/ted-cruz-endorsement-donald-trump/.
Taylor, Jessica. 'Ted Cruz Ends Presidential Campaign After Indiana Loss'. NPR, 3 May 2016. Politics. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2016/05/03/476653783/ted-cruz-drops-out-of-presidential-race.
The White House. 'Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Jan. 7, 2026'. YouTube, 7 Jan. 2026, https://www.youtube.com/live/pqzh65k7ekw?t=2947s.
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