In the interview, Mr. Cruz blamed his defeat principally on the media, which “liked to paint me as some whacked-out theocrat” and putatively gave Donald Trump $3 billion in free publicity. “I think many of the mainstream media players are liberal Democrats,” he continued. “They believed Donald was the easiest candidate for Hillary to beat. And I think many of them wanted him to win the nomination.”

Bashing the media is popular sport among conservatives, so this may score sympathy points for Mr. Cruz, in addition to helping him rationalize his defeat. However, the rabble-rousing Texan has for years enjoyed gushing praise from the likes of Fox News, Breitbart and National Review, and he was the favorite of Steve Deace, a popular Midwest radio talk-show host.

Mr. Cruz also benefited from free political advocacy by groups such as Heritage Action, which supported his political imperatives to shut down the government to repeal ObamaCare in 2013 and to strike Planned Parenthood funding last year. When his kamikaze missions inevitably failed or backfired, he flogged his Republicans colleagues for supposed cowardice.