Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) addressed a 3-year-old girl's reaction to his comment at a town hall event in New Hampshire that her "world is on fire” because of President Barack Obama's foreign policy, telling NBC's "Late Night" host Seth Meyers the little girl wasn't scared by his remarks.
"I think the important lesson there is you just realized kids are terrible with metaphors," Meyers told Cruz Tuesday.
Cruz said it's "interesting" that the media portrayed the exchange as terrifying to the little girl. The potential 2016 candidate said the girl later told her mom she thought Cruz was "a fireman," after her mother told her Cruz "is gonna put out the fire."
But Meyers had further insight on the real problem with the exchange.
"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," Meyers said. "'Let's go watch a Senator talk!' I hope she got ice cream on the way there, and on the way home."
Cruz also defended himself Tuesday against reports that he had scared the little girl, telling MSNBC's "Morning Joe" the media coverage of the exchange had "gotten worse and worse."
"By the end of it I’m Freddy Krueger torturing this girl in her nightmare," Cruz said.
During Cruz's appearance on "Late Night," Meyers joked he was excited by the senator's comments that the "world is on fire" because he thought Cruz was "coming around" on global warming.
"I think the world's on fire -- literally. Hottest year on record," Meyers said. "But you're not there yet, right?"
Cruz cited his recent New Hampshire trip where there was "snow and ice everywhere," and said he thinks debates on global warming should "follow science and follow data."
Watch a clip of Cruz on "Late Night" above.
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