'Don't let him back in': backlash as Cruz caught leaving Texas for Mexico
“Complete and utter hyprocites,” tweeted Senator Ted Cruz back in December, when Steve Adler, mayor of Austin, was caught directing residents to stay at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus while at his holiday home in Cabo, Mexico.
But Cruz is now eating a slice of humble pie – after being caught hopping on a flight to Mexico just days after telling Texans to stay home during a storm that has left millions of Texans without heating, hot water or power. Cruz was pictured on a flight to Cancún while millions in his state are without power, and adults and children have died while trying to keep warm.
In a battle of blame-shifting, politicians across the country have blamed everything – from being weak to “socialism” – for the storm’s effects. Governor Greg Abbott went on Fox News on Tuesday to point the finger at renewable energy for the storm, though the Texas grid is overwhelmingly run on gas and oil.
Previous tweets by Cruz also resurfaced this week – of the senator mocking California during its own extreme weather event during the wildfires last year, claiming it was “unable to perform even basic functions of civilization like having reliable electricity”. When reminded of this comment, he simply tweeted: “I got no defense. A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good.”
Some defended Cruz’s trip today, saying there was nothing the senator could personally do to fix the failed grid. Others lambasted him, noting that hundreds of local charities, food pantries and mutual aid groups have sprung up to support Texans at this time – while the senator went on holiday.
Cruz also drew the ire from Beto O’Rourke, who has spent the last few days connecting residents to local resources and calling thousands of seniors to make sure they are warm. “[Cruz] is vacationing in Cancún right now when people are literally freezing to death in the state that he was elected to represent and serve,” the former congressman and presidential hopeful said on MSNBC Thursday.
It seems that Cruz plans to head back to Texas on Thursday afternoon, although by the looks of it, not everyone wants him back. Calls for the senator to resign, as well as to be blocked from re-entering the country, have abounded on social media. “Mexico can keep him!” the activist Amy Siskind joked.