Seth Meyers Tries to Shame Ted Cruz for Telling 3-year-old Girl 'Whole World Is on Fire'

March 17th, 2015 8:39 PM

During Monday's edition of the NBC program Late Night With Seth Meyers, the liberal host did his best to embarrass Texas senator Ted Cruz for stating that “the whole world is on fire” because of the “Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind.”

In a video of the campaign stop, the likely Republican candidate for president in 2016 was slamming the Democrats' record during the past several years when the voice of 3-year-old Julie Trant echoed his comment.

Meyers stated: “I know you're not technically campaigning yet, you're pre-campaigning, I guess you'd say.”

“And you, you had a moment which shows what the campaigning trail can be like,” he continued. “You put a scare into a 3-year-old through no fault of your own, but let's take a look at this clip because I did enjoy watching this.”

The clip began with Cruz declaring: “The Obama economy is a disaster. ObamaCare is a train wreck, and the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind -- the whole world's on fire!”

Then, a young girl's voice asks: “The whole world's on fire?”

“The world is on fire, yes,” Cruz responded. “Your world is on fire.”

At the end of the video, Meyers noted: “And so I think the important lesson there is you just realized kids are terrible with metaphors.”

“Well, it's interesting, though, the next line that occurs after that, I said: 'But your mommy is here, and together, we're going to put it out,'” the GOP official noted before stating:

And it's interesting about that exchange, In the last 24 hours, there have been 50 media stories that say “Cruz Terrifies Little Girl,” and by the end of it, I was Freddy Kreuger, I had the fingernails, it was terrible.

And the funny thing is it's not true.

“I just talked to her mom about half an hour ago,” the Republican senator continued. “She went on a Boston talk radio program this morning because she was so upset at all these stories.” The mother said that her daughter then “looked at him as a hero” and she said: “My daughter was incredibly happy, and in fact turned to me, and I said: 'Look, Ted is going to put out the fire.' And she said: 'He's a fireman?'

Regarding the negative media coverage of the encounter, the mother added: “She was actually calling him Uncle Cruz for the rest of the day.”

As a result, “he's like Marshall,” the dalmatian fire chief on the children's Paw Patrol television series, Cruz quoted the mother as saying.

Meyers then took advantage of the opportunity to repeat his joke: “Again, they're so bad with metaphors.”

But “that's great,” the host continued. “I think in the end, that girl's problem isn't anything more than her mother doesn't know what 3-year-olds like to do on a Saturday. 'Let's go watch a senator talk!' I hope she got ice cream on the way there and the way home.”

“Let me point out,”' Cruz responded: “There is only one member of the U.S. Senate who's known for Green Eggs and Ham,” the Dr. Seuss book he read to his children while filibustering against funding for ObamaCare in September of 2013.

“That's true,” Meyers replied. “Your demo is trending very young.”

“I poll very well in the 3 to 6 demographic,” the senator responded.

Not surprisingly, Meyers later used Cruz's "world's on fire" comment to transfer the subject to climate change.

"I think the world's on fire, literally. Hottest year on record," Meyers said. "But you're not there yet, right?"

“You know, it's interesting you say that as I just came back from New Hampshire, where there's snow and ice everywhere,” Cruz stated.

"My view actually is simple: Debates on this should follow science and should follow data," he noted. "Many of the alarmists on global warming, they got a problem because the science doesn't back them up."

The Texas senator argued that satellite data going back 17 years shows there's been "zero" warming.
“You remember how it used to be called 'global warming' and then magically, the theory changed to  'climate change?'”

“Sure, the reason is it wasn't warming, but the computer models still say it is except the satellites show it's not,” he explained.

The interview began with Meyers asking Cruz if he had been in New Hampshire, which the GOP official agreed he had.

“I'm from New Hampshire,” the host replied, “and I will tell you that historically, we have found when senators from Texas come to New Hampshire, it's because they want to run for president. It's that, or they want to buy cheap liquor in our liquor stores.”

After making a comment like that, it's no wonder Meyers no longer lives in the Granite State.