I wish they would both lay off each other, no matter how obvious that might look to the media, because we need both options at this point. But I’d say calling someone who is a sitting senator a “maniac”, especially when he’s had to fight that exact same charge from his own turncoat party, by a man who up to now has not been in the political process, is a little more harmful. Cruz has taken a lot of flak from his own party for years, for being one of the few, sometimes the only, senator who abides by conservative principles and the reasons conservative voters sent him to Congress. I will always defend him because he’s put his own azz on the line when he had something to lose, from his own so-called party colleagues.
Cruz has put his ass on the line in the Senate before, as you’ve said. Having said that, I do not think Trump’s statement is entirely unjustified.
Let me explain. In a practical sense, Trump is a deal maker. He understands/believes that to make any change in the world of business and politics, you have to be an idealogue in principle but a pragmatist in action. In that sense, an all or nothing personality who doesn’t understand or use incrementalism won’t make any positive changes at all.
Additionally, if I look at this from Trump’s perspective, he just heard a few days ago that Cruz was (apparently?) faking his cameradrae just to try to get voters. If I heard that someone I knew was doing that, I’d be seriously pissed off. This kind of response in this situation is actually MILD coming from Trump.