Drop Dead Ted..

The feud between the Texas senator and America's largest city escalated when the New York Daily News told Cruz, in bold, headline font on the front page of the paper: "Drop dead, Ted."

"Hey Cruz: you don't like N.Y. values? Go back to Canada!" the cover read, with an image of the Statue of Liberty giving the middle finger.

The Texas senator launched the first volley on this line of attack when he criticized Donald Trump for embodying "New York values" in an interview on a New Hampshire radio show. He repeated the attack on Fox News and on the Republican presidential debate  hosted by Fox. 

During Thursday night's debate, Trump delivered a withering rebuke to Cruz's attack, praising New York City's resilience after 9/11.

"I saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York," Trump said. "The people of New York fought and fought and fought. We saw more death and even the smell of death and it was with us for months."

"We rebuilt downtown Manhattan and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers," he continued. "And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made."

Ted said "I think most people know exactly what New York values are: socially liberal, pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion, focused on money and the media," he said.