Ford and GM CEOs Just Gave Ted Cruz a Brutal Wake-Up Call About His 2028 Chances

Cruz thinks he's building his 2028 presidential campaign against JD Vance.

But the auto industry just showed him exactly how much respect he actually commands.

And Ford and GM CEOs just gave Ted Cruz a brutal wake-up call about his 2028 chances.

Cruz Gets Blindsided By Detroit Three Rebellion

Senator Ted Cruz organized a January 14 hearing on auto affordability expecting CEOs from Ford, GM, and Stellantis to show up and answer his questions.

He deliberately excluded Elon Musk from the witness list, inviting only Tesla's VP of engineering instead.

Cruz told Politico he didn't want Musk there because the hearing would turn into a circus focused on DOGE rather than car prices.

Ford CEO Jim Farley responded by threatening to skip the hearing entirely.

GM CEO Mary Barra said she'd only attend if all the other CEOs showed up first.

Stellantis refused to comment on whether CEO Antonio Filosa would even bother appearing.

The hearing conflicts with the Detroit Auto Show's media day, where all three CEOs have major product reveals scheduled.

Ford also has a massive event the next day kicking off its 2026 racing season.

GM is opening its new world headquarters in Detroit that same week.

But the scheduling isn't the real problem here.

Ford Calls Out Cruz's Musk Snub

Ford's outside counsel sent Cruz a December 12 letter laying out exactly why Farley won't be there.

The letter points out that Cruz invited CEOs from the Detroit Three but only a vice president from Tesla.

"Ford believes that it is essential that any potential hearing adhere to Congress's longstanding tradition of ensuring comparable treatment for similarly situated companies," the letter states.

Ford essentially told Cruz that if Tesla only needs to send a VP, then Ford should get the same courtesy.

The letter also notes the hearing is supposedly about the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act, which has nothing to do with Farley's actual responsibilities.

Cruz is trying to grill these CEOs about $50,000 average vehicle prices and government regulations.

But he structured the hearing so Musk's company gets special treatment while the Detroit automakers get hauled before Congress.

The CEOs saw through it immediately.

They know Cruz excluded Musk to avoid political complications with Trump's Commerce Committee chairman going after DOGE.

White House Already Knows Cruz Is Gunning for Vance

This auto hearing disaster fits a pattern that's been building for months.

The White House and Trump allies are convinced Cruz is positioning himself to challenge JD Vance for the 2028 GOP nomination.

Cruz has been criticizing Vance to Republican donors, calling his foreign policy views "dangerously isolationist."

He's gone to war with Tucker Carlson, Vance's close ally, accusing him of injecting antisemitism into the conservative movement.

Cruz called Carlson a "coward" and "complicit in evil" after Tucker interviewed white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

The White House sees this as Cruz trying to create distance between himself and Vance.

Cruz also fought the administration over the NASA administrator position, pushing for Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy instead of Trump's pick Jared Isaacman.

That became a proxy battle between Cruz and Vance, with Vance and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles ultimately winning when Isaacman got reappointed.

But Cruz keeps throwing up roadblocks to Isaacman's confirmation.

The Problem: Nobody Actually Likes Cruz

The Ford and GM pushback reveals Cruz's fundamental weakness as a 2028 candidate.

He can't even get corporate CEOs to show up to his hearing without a fight.

These are executives who need favorable treatment from Congress on tariffs, trade deals, and regulations.

They still chose to publicly defy Cruz rather than play along.

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene summed up Cruz's problem perfectly when talking about 2028 to the Washington Post.

"There'll be Ted Cruz, I'm sure, running against JD Vance," Greene said.

"All of us hate Ted Cruz."

Even Hal Lambert, who helped organize a super PAC for Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign, won't back him this time.

"If JD Vance is running, I'm going to be supporting JD Vance," Lambert told the Post.

"I just don't understand what the platform would be."

Cruz has name recognition and can raise money.

But he doesn't have the one thing he needs most: people who actually want him to succeed.

The auto CEOs refusing to bend the knee to his Senate committee shows how little leverage Cruz really has.

Vance leads every early poll for 2028 by massive margins.

He's got Trump's implicit backing, the MAGA base behind him, and Erika Kirk – widow of assassinated conservative leader Charlie Kirk – formally endorsed him at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest in December.

Cruz is trying to position himself as the traditional Republican foreign policy hawk against Vance's America First approach.

But traditional Republican foreign policy is exactly what Trump voters rejected in 2016.

The auto hearing debacle shows Cruz still doesn't understand the new Republican Party.

He thinks he can use his Senate committee chairmanship to build a presidential campaign.

Instead, he's demonstrating that even when he has all the power, he still can't command respect.

Vance watches all this and probably can't believe his luck.

Cruz is doing the opposition research on himself.

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Sources:

• Grant Schwab, "Ford at odds with Sen. Ted Cruz over January affordability hearing," The Detroit News, December 29, 2025.
• Henry J. Gomez, "An early 2028 fight erupts as the White House stews over Sen. Ted Cruz," NBC News, November 20, 2025.
• Zac Palmer, "Ford and GM Bosses in Standoff with Senator Ted Cruz over Hearing on New-Car Prices," Car and Driver, January 1, 2026.
• Staff, "The White House Believes Ted Cruz Is Working to Undermine Trump Due to His 2028 Ambitions," NOTUS, November 20, 2025.
• Matthew Goldstein, "Ted Cruz weighs another presidential run, setting up clash with Vance," The Washington Post, December 22, 2025.