Charles Krauthammer told viewers Friday on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz “was speechless, gobsmacked... dumbstruck” at the end of Thursday’s Fox Business Network GOP primary debate.

The Texas senator criticized fellow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for embodying what he called "New York values.”

Krauthammer, a syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor, said that while Cruz was “dazzling” on the birther issue, he got “thoroughly crushed on the New York thing.”

Krauthammer seemed surprised by the way Cruz handled Trump’s attacks, calling the exchange “uncharacteristic of Cruz because he is always prepared.”

“Trump had played the 9/11 card the day before,” Krauthammer said, “[Cruz] should have known it was coming.”

"And if you saw the split screen at the end of hat exchange, Cruz was speechless," Krauthammer said.