At one point during Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ volatile round of testimony with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Ben Sassee (R-Nebraska) apologized for some “drama” on his side of the dais. “Sorry to have added to the drama and distracted you for a minute,” he said. “I wasn’t paying enough attention there that I dumped a Dr Pepper on Sen. Cruz. So that’s what was distracting us on this side of the dais.” The junior senator’s apparent slight against his colleague was an accident, to be sure, but that didn’t stop Twitter from admonishing one of its more entertaining political users. Cue the Zodiac Killer jokes.
“‘Accidentally,’ @BenSasse?” a reported teased the senator. In response, Sasse said he had “no comment,” but quickly changed course when he and Cruz began playfully bantering with each other on the medium. The Canadian-cum-Texan politican posted a “MEMO TO OFFICE” indicating his Nebraskan counterpart was “now cut off” from partaking in their Dr Pepper fridge.
MEMO TO OFFICE:
Please place a picture of @BenSasse above the @drpepper fridge in our lobby.
He is now cut off. https://t.co/C9tj5wQ6tD pic.twitter.com/6PH6HCFSoJ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 18, 2017
Sasse, meanwhile, jumped on one Twitter user’s joke about “sitting with the son of the guy who killed Kennedy” to re-open the popular “Ted Cruz is the Zodiac killer” meme that plagued the former Republican presidential candidate in 2016. (And, evidently, still does to this day.) “[F]ull disclosure,” he wrote. “[I] was wearing my ‘Lee Harvey Oswald Was Framed’ t-shirt.”
full disclosure:
i was wearing my "Lee Harvey Oswald Was Framed" t-shirt https://t.co/93lKIizkVO— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) October 18, 2017
A fellow senator giving Cruz the Zodiac business is, in and of itself, noteworthy. Why? Because it’s hilarious. But then Cruz himself pulled a fast one and responded to Sasse’s joke with a joke of his own — the popular Zodiac key so often used against him throughout the meme’s longer-than-normal lifespan.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 18, 2017
Sasse quipped back, saying he could just make out the name of Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, in the infamous letter key.
so i found "rafael" in here but haven't decoded "grassy knoll" yet https://t.co/wVb2GMTf2i
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) October 18, 2017
While the two men presumably laughed off their charade, however, the rest of the internet understandably exploded.
https://twitter.com/RobGrasing/status/920710654880657408
I think Ted Cruz just admitted to being the Zodiac Killer. https://t.co/xwwJcO9CS3
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/920712558184685568
I CALLED IT
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) October 18, 2017
.@tedcruz you’re not the zodiac https://t.co/MJiR9Q7Kv1
— Philip Bump (@pbump) October 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/thomdunn/status/920719146631008257
— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair 🦥 (@senatorshoshana) October 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/Harry1T6/status/920711589074014211
https://twitter.com/zarzarbinkss/status/920710494847209487
https://twitter.com/jpbrammer/status/920723221321830409
https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/920710372738371584
All things being equal online, of course, the porn tweet jokes weren’t far behind.
— Pinche-Stage 4 (@Pinche_Pi) October 18, 2017
ME: You're the Zodiac Killer.
TED CRUZ: No, I'm not!
ME: OK, you're that Senator who jerked off.
TED CRUZ: …ok I'm the Zodiac Killer.
— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) October 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/libbycwatson/status/920710482759225372