Ted Cruz sparks major backlash after criticizing Dems who fled Texas to protect voting rights
Perhaps the last person who should be attacking Democrats in the Texas legislature for fleeing the state to prevent the GOP from passing new voting restrictions is Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).
After Cruz was caught fleeing to Cancun, Mexico this past winter during a climate emergency-induced cold spell that took out Texas’ power grid and left the state’s inhabitants shivering in the freezing weather, he doesn’t exactly possess the moral authority to lecture anyone about their travel plans, especially when they are in the service of preserving democracy.
Yet there was Senator Cruz, yet again pontificating on Fox News, besmirching the Democratic Texas lawmakers who fled the state’s jurisdiction rather than allow a quorum for their political opponents’ attempts to pass the heinous proposed voting legislation.
Calling the move a “political stunt,” Cruz said it was “ironic” since Democrats generally oppose voter ID measures, yet had to use their government-issued IDs to board the plane they used to escape the state.
“As they were getting on their private jet to fly to Washington, D.C., they almost surely had to show identification to get on that jet,” Cruz told his Fox News interviewer.
“This is, at the end of the day, politics. And they need to get back to doing their jobs. And one way or the other, they will,” he predicted.
Given his own past history of hasty exoduses, one would think that Cruz would downplay his comments, but instead, he took to Twitter to tout them and give them an even wider audience.
https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1414951945593294864?s=20
Posting his Fox News interview to Twitter was perhaps not the wisest move if Cruz wanted to avoid being hammered down by his own critics. They took to the social media platform to give the Texas senator a piece of their minds.
Texas Democrats left the state to fight for voting rights.
Ted Cruz left the state to sip drinks on a Cancun beach.
I’d sit this one out, Ted. pic.twitter.com/aaePYLLzXs
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) July 13, 2021
If it’s one thing @tedcruz knows about, it’s jet setting. Reminds you of when he abandoned his duty to the people of Texas when he left in the middle of a winter storm to go to Cancun. https://t.co/PVzCGaIMI6
— Rep. Hank Johnson (@RepHankJohnson) July 13, 2021
Ted Cruz on Texas Democrats: "It's ironic. As they were getting on their private jet to fly to Washington DC, they almost surely had to show identification to get on that jet." (This is a false equivalency — people have a right to vote but not a right to board jets.) pic.twitter.com/VXxZ6jMBiE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 13, 2021
And let's not forget, when he was caught out, he threw his kids under the bus.
— Karl Marx, Family Babysitter (@contentlove) July 14, 2021
LOL, don't look at this buffoon's feed. Your IQ will drop precipitously. pic.twitter.com/S4IUYU2aj3
— Mongo The Relentless (@enespacio) July 14, 2021
U r a moron pic.twitter.com/9CpcORgwyH
— steveohw (@steveohw) July 13, 2021
https://twitter.com/UnionRebelMs/status/1414960390631428096?s=20
So if an old age home decides to bus more than 3 old peeps to the polls, they have to get permission for that?! Are you fucking nuts?!! pic.twitter.com/uAAgpQcZ0S
— J. Long (@long_standing) July 13, 2021
Cancun Cruz, spot the difference??? pic.twitter.com/x2mAp9mSL7
— Maureen Schroeder (@MaureenLS) July 13, 2021
You have a Constitutional right to vote, you don't have one to fly.
— Randall Stephens (@rodgers1125) July 13, 2021
We all know this isnt about ID, which has been required to vote for more than a decade in #Texas. By the way, should we be concerened about the legitimacy of the election of you and @GregAbbott_TX since you were elected with all this alleged fraudulent voting in Texas? #texlege
— Brian Anthony Bowen (@BrianAnthonyBo1) July 13, 2021
He fled his own country! Fled to the very place he disparages the people of on a almost daily basis.
— Dan Busch (@Busch04) July 13, 2021
It looks like Ted Cruz got an earful from his Twitter followers when he apparently expected people would have forgotten about his disgraceful escape to Cancun earlier this year.
Next time, let’s hope that Cruz has enough sense to keep his mouth shut when opening it will only lead to humiliation and mockery of his pervasive hypocrisy.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
Original reporting by Rachel Scully at The Hill.
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Vinnie Longobardo is the Managing Editor of Occupy Democrats. He's a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.