GOP presidential contenders Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz at the CNN debate in Las Vegas, Nevada on Dec. 15, 2015.
GOP presidential contenders Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz at the CNN debate in Las Vegas, Nevada on Dec. 15, 2015. Michael Stravato

Nine months ago, Ted Cruz called Donald Trump “terrific.” Two weeks ago, he called the real estate mogul “a sniveling coward.”

It’s been an emotional rollercoaster for the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, with Cruz, a U.S. Senator from Texas, initially distinguishing himself last summer as the only candidate to fully embrace Trump’s unexpected bid for the White House. 

As other contenders fell by the wayside, the pair’s friendship first fractured and then died, only to be quickly replaced with an intense hostility.

Below, we trace the rise and fall of the Cruz-Trump bromance.

 

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Jordan Rudner was a reporting fellow for The Texas Tribune in 2015-16. A Plan II and history major at the University of Texas at Austin, Jordan previously interned at KUT News and the Supreme Court of...

Madlin Mekelburg was a reporting fellow for the Tribune in 2015 and 2016. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied journalism and French. Madlin previously worked at the...

Lauren Flannery was a 2016 news apps fellow for the Texas Tribune and a graduate of the University of Florida, where she studied journalism and business administration. Lauren has previously worked for...