Maybe Donald Trump unlocked the key?

After all, it was Democratic Representative and all-around good guy Rep. Eric Swalwell who captured the most perfect explanation of “MAGA” at least as practiced in the United States Senate. He told our buddies at Meidas Touch, who noted that politics to the MAGA right is all “pro wrestling,” and that nothing matters but the show. That’s obviously true, but Trump is the one who extended that all-for-show stuff to actually making money off the show. His closest acolytes are now jumping on.

Ted Cruz just signed a deal with iHeart Radio to syndicate his thrice weekly podcast in which Ted Cruz muses about what it’s like being Ted Cruz – mostly – and given that Cruz is, without question, the most hated man in the Senate, one wonders what it is that Cruz has to “give” the people who listen?

From the Dallas Morning News:

Friday’s show was the 145th episode, and the final show for longtime co-host Michael Knowles, who told listeners that his own syndication arrangement through The Daily Wire precluded him working for iHeart.

“iHeart has a gigantic network. iHeart can fund the whole thing — fund production, dump a whole bunch of money into marketing. This is incredible. It will make this show sustainable, not just for the next few months going into the midterms, but for the next years,” Knowles said. “It’s been an amazing ride. We took it to number one of all the podcasts. Ted Cruz became a bigger podcaster than Joe Rogan and stayed there for a pretty decent period of time.”

What? If it was No. 1 of all the podcasts, where is the $100 million that Rogan got? No, Ted is nowhere close to being ahead of Rogan or any of the other Top 10 podcasts.

Back to the Dallas Morning News:

“People want to go around the mainstream media, to the people they trust,” Ferguson said, joining the latest show as a guest.

Ahhhh, the jokes on us. We want to “go around the news” and trust in Ted Cruz, podcaster, travel magnate, and occasional U.S. Senator, possible collaborator in January 6th objections. We get it now. It’s all show business and now Ted wants to get “paid” big for his “content.”

Ted Cruz thinks of himself as a content creator first, a coward second, and an elected official with an obligation to his constituents… 36th? https://t.co/umsilJyYFy via @mediaite

— John Iadarola (@johniadarola) October 10, 2022

"A big damn deal," Texas @SenTedCruz declares about the growth of his broadcast empire on top of his political career as he announces partnership with iHeartRadio, expands his podcasts to three a week, @toddgillman reports. #TedCruz #iheartradio #podcasts https://t.co/cLrMWsWMfj

— John Gravois (@Grav1) October 10, 2022

We have an idea. Why doesn’t Ted grab the money now and go full-time podcaster? Let Beto do the job of actually “being” a Senator (sucker) and let Ted make mo’ money!

God, this is awful.

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman