Cruz was stupid.
Your average viewer/reader doesn't give a crap about the etymology of phrases - they accept them in their own experience and vernacular.
There were far more elegant ways for Cruz to have gotten his point across. He really should spend some time watching parliamentary debates.
I will agree with that, he shouldn't use vague references to Trump's big guy Roger Stone and his 'rat-f****' Republican list. Most people won't know about that and it will just be used against him.
Cruz does need to improve on his speeches and understand, the way this is going, he isn't speaking to a politically astute voter base any more. Even those on his side who are engaged are starting to treat this like a WWE wrasslin match and they want WWE catch-phrases, not nuanced historical references.