Texas was hit hard by a winter storm and will be under its effects for days to come. Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator from Texas, was caught flying out of the country to Cancun. These two things happened at the same time, and the Internet lost its mind about it.
A slow, painstaking day of press releases, statements, and commentary left Cruz ultimately admitting that he was, in fact, planning to stay for several days.
“So last night I flew down with them to the beach and then I flew back this afternoon. I had initially planned to stay through the weekend,” Cruz admitted. “But as I was heading down there, you know, I started to have second thoughts almost immediately because the crisis here in Texas, you need to be here on the ground. As much as you can do by phone and Zoom, it’s not the same as being here.”
Let me be very clear here: I am way more concerned with Ted Cruz’s decision to sport a fade/mullet thing while he is serving as a U.S. Senator. But I can’t, because people are way more concerned about where Ted Cruz is going on vacation.
This isn’t a debate over Ted Cruz not doing anything to help his state. I don’t know what he has done to help his state, and neither do any of you reading this. I also don’t know what any of the people who are pissed at Cruz actually wanted him to do. He’s a U.S. Senator. He has so very little power as it is. What is he supposed to be doing right now? Calling people? Handing out blankets?
No, the real debate here is over optics. It looks bad that Cruz left the country when his state is in chaos over a major ice storm. And, I totally agree that it was a stupid, stupid decision. I honestly have no idea why he would do that when it seems pretty obvious that maybe you shouldn’t do that when your state is in trouble.
Perhaps I am spoiled. My state was hit by roughly 487 hurricanes this year, and none of our elected officials said, “Y’all hang tight. I’m heading to Jamaica for a week.” Even if they didn’t stick around in the state and do things, they were in Washington D.C. at least giving the appearance of doing things. That’s all Cruz had to do.
But the people who are pissed at Cruz for going to Cancun while Texas became Alaska for a week are the ones who defended Barack Obama for golfing through crises during his administration. Or, if you flip it, the people defending Cruz attacked Obama for the same reasons. There is a selective outrage that always happens in this scenario. It’s a total lack of sincerity in the attack that makes me want to dismiss the seriousness of it.
I’m sure if you went back far enough, you’d find something I wrote about Obama and his golfing. Honestly, I don’t think I’d feel the same way if it happened now. I don’t know for certain, and I don’t want to be hypocritical here, but I am not sure what exactly Obama could do in this situation. Keep his ringer on while he’s on the back nine?
What Cruz did was phenomenally stupid, and it just seems like he doesn’t care. He’s flailing, trying to find his place in the Republican Party after Donald Trump managed to grab ahold of the base he was hoping to secure. Since Trump came and went, Cruz has not been able to really regain that spot in the base’s collective heart. So, he makes mistakes like this, and I honestly don’t know where his path is in 2024 because of it.
But, and I cannot stress this enough, what Cruz did was really stupid, and he should know better. I’m just not going to crucify him for it when the people who are doing the crucifying are not being sincere.