Republicans Are Twisting Themselves Into Pretzels Defending Ted Cruz’s Cancun Trip, But Most Are Just Implying He’s Completely Useless Anyway

Ted Cruz fled the state of Texas during a climate disaster, but his biggest supporters will openly tell you he had no plans to actually help anyone without power or water or supplies amid freezing temperatures in the Lone Star state. Reports that Cruz had left Texas for a flight to Cancun circulated early on Thursday, and by the late morning it was confirmed that Cruz was in Mexico while hundreds of thousands of Texans remained powerless amid freezing conditions and a crumbling infrastructure that posted a real threat to millions of people.

The outrage of Cruz abandoning his state’s people in an historic weather crisis was swift, especially as the story shifted from Cruz and his staff attempting to claim that he left on what was apparently supposed to be a days-long vacation that suddenly became a lone overnight stay in Mexico.

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As Cruz reportedly changed his flight plans, issued a vague statement about wanting to be a good dad and apparently set to return to Texas on Thursday afternoon, other conservatives actually tried to defend Cruz fleeing a climate crisis amid a pandemic instead of helping the people who elected him. Most of their defense stemmed from a simple fact: even if Cruz stayed in Texas instead of slipping on a plane and off to warmer climates, Cruz is so useless as a politician he can’t actually help people if he tried.

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On Newsmax, the right-wing news channel had guests declare that Cruz is better off leaving Texas and working from lush beaches because he can… get more done on vacation and away from what’s been an extremely deadly and dangerous situation for millions of Texans who can’t just hop on a plane and leave the country.

And over on Fox News, they apparently didn’t even acknowledge that Cruz leaving Texas for a Mexican vacation has become the talk of the political world.

Though they did finally get around to it by Thursday afternoon, confirming that Cruz was in Mexico.

And, of course, there’s always a tweet to throw back at Cruz that he tweeted just months earlier. On Thursday, people recirculated a tweet from December where Cruz criticized a Democratic lawmaker in Texas leaving the state (and the country) during a pandemic. Which is the exact the exact same thing Cruz did two months later, with a climate disaster on top of that.

It all only added to a very bad Thursday for Cruz, as even the people defending him for fleeing the state could only show how bad he is at his job.