White House press secretary Jen Psaki seems to be giving Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) the “wah-wah-wah” treatment.
Psaki appeared completely unbothered when a reporter asked her during a press conference Thursday about Cruz comparing her to the “Peanuts” character Peppermint Patty during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference that same day.
“Sen. Ted Cruz is speaking at CPAC and you came up,” the reporter told Psaki on Thursday. “He called you quote-unquote Peppermint Patty and has encouraged people to boo you.”
At this, Psaki channeled the good-natured vibes of another “Peanuts” character, Snoopy, and responded:
“Don’t tell him I like Peppermint Patty,” Psaki responded. “So I’m not going to take it too offensively. Sen. Cruz, I like Peppermint Patty. I’m a little tougher than that. But there you go.”
Much like Psaki, many people on Twitter seemed unperturbed by the apparent slight.
The Texas lawmaker made the jab in a speech at CPAC in which he lambasted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said “big government sucks,” and praised the crowd for not wearing face masks.
After Cruz mentioned Trudeau during his speech, the crowd reacted with loud boos. Cruz seemed disappointed that a mention of Psaki did not garner the same response.
“Oh, come on, Jen Psaki doesn’t get the Justin Trudeau treatment?” he said, coaxing some boos out of the crowd. “Peppermint Patty deserves some love,” he added.
Cruz then criticized Psaki for asking “billionaires and Silicon Valley” to silence controversial podcaster Joe Rogan. Earlier in this month, Psaki was asked to weigh in on Spotify adding a disclaimer to Rogan’s podcast — which frequently spreads COVID-19 misinformation — during a press conference. Psaki responded by saying the disclaimer was a “positive step.”
“But we want every platform to be doing more to be calling out mis- and disinformation, while also uplifting accurate information,” Psaki said.
It is unclear why Cruz compared Psaki to Peppermint Patty, but it could be because of Psaki’s hair, which resembles the same hairdo the “Peanuts” character sported — a short bob with a side part. Both also have freckles.
Psaki is known for her distinctively red hair, and in 2015’s “The Peanuts Movie” Peppermint Patty shares a similar hue. In Charles M. Schultz’s comic strip, however, Patty’s hair looked more brown.
A simple Google search also shows that Cruz is by no means the first person to make this comparison, which makes his recycled quip look like something the strong-willed Peppermint Patty would also have completely shrugged off.