Ted Cruz Is Being Mocked Over His Jason Bourne Reference That Makes Zero Sense At All

Ted Cruz fancies himself a pop culture aficionado, although he generally misses the point, as he did with The Avengers and while completely misreading some evil environmentalist message into Watchmen. That’s consistent with his tendency to self-own on most subjects, although it was almost sad when he declared himself a The Princess Bride superfan and then completely fell on his face while feuding with the likes of Cary Elwes. Yet Ted is nothing if not persistent, which is why people are scratching their heads at his newest reference that makes zero sense.

Ted decided to mention Jason Bourne for some unknown reason while reacting to a “Humans of the CIA” video, in which a woman makes mention of her “intersectional” identity. Ted picked up the ball and ran with it, although it’s unclear what his goal was, other than to say that the woman in the video wouldn’t be intimidating enough to China, Iran, or North Korea? He then sarcastically (?) added, “We’ve come a long way from Jason Bourne.”

This, of course, led people to wonder if Ted realizes that Jason Bourne (embodied by Matt Damon in five movies and a late 1980s take starring Richard Chamberlain, all of were adapted from Robert Ludlum’s novel-born character) is fictional. Surely Ted realizes that much, right? People weren’t in the mood to give Ted the benefit of the doubt, though. That’s probably because Ted didn’t articulate his point well, and for that matter, he failed to make any point at all. It’s clear, at the very least, that he doesn’t understand that Jason Bourne wasn’t, you know, a role model… he was brainwashed and molded into an assassin. Then again, Ted Cruz considers Watchmen‘s Rorschach to be a hero, so it’s safe to say that he didn’t think the Bourne reference through.