How was this a “gaffe”? He clearly meant it, although the context is a bit more nuanced than just, “Ted Cruz loves pedophiles”. He’s obviously trying to downplay their importance in the current political conversation, in an effort to get people to stop caring about Donald Trump’s Epstein connections.

This wasn’t a slip of the tongue. It’s just an objectively bad take, and people should roast the shit out of him for it.