It’s been five days since Ted Cruz returned from his ill-advised Mexican vacation and people in and outside of Texas haven’t stopped talking about what a terrible decision it was to abandon his constituents in the middle of a devastating winter storm. Although why would they, when he hasn’t stopped talking about it either?
Cruz has had a whirlwind of responses to the criticism he’s faced. After lying about his intentions and falsely claiming he was just dropping his family off in Cancún, then admitting that was a lie but blaming his daughters for the idea, and then being outed even further via a leak of his wife’s group chat, Cruz admitted that fleeing the state was a mistake, saying “In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it.” He then also kind of continued to blame his daughters, adding “I was trying to be a dad.”
Cruz is clearly tired of all the scrutiny. So to combat the attention that’s on him right now, he’s chosen to go complain about it on a bunch of podcasts and television shows (makes sense), throwing out new talking points as he finds new people to blame for his choices.
First of all, Cruz is still trying to deflect responsibility for the suffering of his constituents, saying that the energy crisis that led him to flee was due to the Green New Deal, a thing that hasn’t been enacted yet.
What do I win pic.twitter.com/9lT7aqaGvC
— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) February 23, 2021
Cruz said that the Green New Deal is “one of the major elements” of why the power grid fell short last week. Despite that not being at all true, this is the second time he’s said it to Hannity in less than a week.
Next up on Cruz’s blame game bonanza: the media! After admitting that leaving the state was “a mistake,” Cruz now seems to be backtracking in order to redirect blame for his choices onto the news media, whom he says is suffering from “Trump withdrawal.”
“I think the media is suffering from Trump withdrawal, where they’ve attacked Trump every day for four years,” he told Hannity. “They don’t know what to do, so they obsessed over my taking my girls to the beach.”
That’s right, it was just a simple trip to the beach with his daughters! Not total abandonment of the people he was elected to serve and stand by while millions of them suffered without heat or drinkable water for days on end. Just a “quick dropoff” like the kids were headed to a playdate at the neighbors’ pool.
Cruz apparently really likes that argument, because he repeated it to far-right radio host and former NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch, amping up the imagery and presumably making an attempt at comedy.
“I will say, to venture into practicing medicine, that I actually want to diagnose the media. The media is suffering from acute Trump withdrawal, where for four years every day, they could foam at the mouth and be obsessed with Donald Trump, and now that he has receded from their day-to-day storyline, they don’t know what to do with themselves,” he told her.
Cruz also appeared on a podcast called Ruthless to complain about the media, the Green New Deal, all the negative attention he’s been getting on Twitter, and the fact that his family’s “friends” leaked their texts in the first place.
“Here’s a suggestion: Just don’t be assholes,” he said. “Like just treat each other as human beings, have some degree, some modicum of respect.”
Which is a hell of a thing to say on a podcast that was literally launched to celebrate the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and dedicates each episode to tearing down Democrats.
Look, these are shameless people. But a Trump coup supporter saying “can’t we just be respectful?” on a podcast launched in the wake of Ginsburg’s death to mock liberals and dance on her grave… well that captures it perfectly. https://t.co/zuTsKBQydD
— Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) February 23, 2021
Looking forward to seeing who Cruz will find to blame next!
(image: Andrew Harnik – Pool/Getty Images)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
Published: Feb 23, 2021 01:57 pm