The Houston Chronicle called on Ted Cruz to resign for his disgraceful behavior on January 6, and before January 6:
In Texas, we have our share of politicians who peddle wild conspiracy theories and reckless rhetoric aiming to inflame.
Think U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert’s “terror baby” diatribes or his nonsensical vow not to wear a face mask until after he got COVID, which he promptly did.
This editorial board tries to hold such shameful specimens to account.
But we reserve special condemnation for the perpetrators among them who are of sound mind and considerable intellect — those who should damn well know better.
None more than U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
A brilliant and frequent advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court and a former Texas solicitor general, Cruz knew exactly what he was doing, what he was risking and who he was inciting as he stood on the Senate floor Wednesday and passionately fed the farce of election fraud even as a seething crowd of believers was being whipped up by President Trump a short distance away.
Cruz, it should also be noted, knew exactly whose presidency he was defending. That of a man he called in 2016 a “narcissist,” a “pathological liar” and “utterly amoral.”
Cruz told senators that since nearly 40 percent of Americans believed the November election “was rigged” that the only remedy was to form an emergency task force to review the results — and if warranted, allow states to overturn Joe Biden’s victory and put their electoral votes in Trump’s column.
Cruz deemed people’s distrust in the election “a profound threat to the country and to the legitimacy of any administrations that will come in the future.”
What he didn’t acknowledge was how that distrust, which he overstated anyway, was fueled by Trump’s torrent of fantastical claims of voter fraud that were shown again and again not to exist.
Cruz had helped spin that web of deception and now he was feigning concern that millions of Americans had gotten caught up in it.
Even as he peddled his phony concern for the integrity of our elections, he argued that senators who voted to certify Biden’s victory would be telling tens of millions of Americans to “jump in a lake” and that their concerns don’t matter.
Actually, senators who voted to certify the facts delivered the truth — something Americans haven’t been getting from a political climber whose own insatiable hunger for power led him to ride Trump’s bus to Crazy Town through 59 losing court challenges, past state counts and recounts and audits, and finally taking the wheel to drive it to the point of no return: trying to bully the U.S. Congress into rejecting tens of millions of lawfully cast votes in an election that even Trump’s Department of Homeland Security called the most secure in American history.
The consequences of Cruz’s cynical gamble soon became clear and so did his true motivations. In the moments when enraged hordes of Trump supporters began storming the Capitol to stop a steal that never happened, desecrating the building, causing the evacuation of Congress and injuring dozens of police officers, including one who died, a fundraising message went out to Cruz supporters:
“Ted Cruz here,” it read. “I’m leading the fight to reject electors from key states unless there is an emergency audit of the election results. Will you stand with me?”
Cruz claims the message was automated. Even if that’s true, it’s revolting.
This is a man who lied, unflinchingly, on national television, claiming on Hannity’s show days after the election that Philadelphia votes were being counted under a “shroud of darkness” in an attempted Democratic coup. As he spoke, the process was being livestreamed on YouTube.
For two months, Cruz joined Trump in beating the drum of election fraud until Trump loyalists were deaf to anyone — Republican, Democrat or nonpartisan journalist, not to mention state and federal courts — telling them otherwise.
And yet, Cruz insists he bears no responsibility for the deadly terror attack.
“Not remotely,” he told KHOU Thursday. “What I was doing and what the other members were doing is what we were elected to do, which is debating matters of great import in the chamber of the United States Senate.”
Since the Capitol siege, Cruz has condemned the violence, tweeting after the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick that “Heidi and I are lifting up in prayer” the officer’s family and demanding the terrorists be prosecuted.
Well, senator, those terrorists wouldn’t have been at the Capitol if you hadn’t staged this absurd challenge to the 2020 results in the first place. You are unlikely to be prosecuted for inciting the riots, as President Trump may yet be, and there is no election to hold you accountable until 2024. So, we call for another consequence, one with growing support across Texas: Resign.
This editorial board did not endorse you in 2018. There’s no love lost — and not much lost for Texans needing a voice in Washington, either.
Public office isn’t a college debate performance. It requires representing the interests of Texans. In your first term, you once told reporters that you weren’t concerned about delivering legislation for your constituents. The more you throw gears in the workings of Washington, you said, the more people back home love you. Tell that to the constituents who complain that your office rarely even picks up the phone.
Serving as a U.S. senator requires working constructively with colleagues to get things done. Not angering them by voting against Hurricane Sandy relief, which jeopardized Congressional support for Texas’ relief after Harvey. Not staging a costly government shutdown to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2013 that cost the economy billions. Not collecting more enemies than friends in your own party, including the affable former House Speaker John Boehner who famously remarked: “I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”
We’re done with the drama. Done with the opportunism. Done with the cynical scheming that has now cost American lives.
Resign, Mr. Cruz, and deliver Texas from the shame of calling you our senator.
Not easy to embarrass a Texican …
That was also my first thought… And my second and third thought as well.
The Lone Star State of Mind
The Miracle wilts on vine
And water turns to whine
Colossal claims
From usual names
The Lone Star state of mind
Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three schlubs in a tub,
And who do you think they were?
The Trumpster, the Cruzer,
And Hawley, the loser.
Expel them from DC;
Take them out to sea;
To drown in ignominy.
And I would add one more:
Mike Pence will make it four.
Cruz is evidence that the American body politic has now been pushed so far to the right that any suggestions made by centrists are viewed as radical. That Hawley, Cruz, and at least half their colleagues exist as successful political leaders indicts our system. We have been hijacked by cynics on the right, who f el no compunction to speak truth.
One of the things I keep hearing about Senators Cruz and Hawley is their distinction in earning degrees from Ivy League universities. Is it just me or does this say, rather than good things about these disgraced legislators, bad things about the institutions that graduated them?
Asking for a friend
Did these people form their attitudes and ethics in the Ivy league?
Or were their attitudes and ethics just what got them in?
Or were they super good at saying the right things to get them in? They obviously will do or say anything they think will gain them power. I have a feeling that that attitude existed long before their ivy league educations. Smarts, cunning, and ethically challenged–a winning trifecta.
That’s what I meant by were their attitudes and ethics just what got them in?
My “or” was an supplement to what you said rather than something new. I was adding the sneaky, slimey part of being able to discern and say what you have to say in order to get what you want. I agreed that their attitudes had been nurtured long before they hit the Ivies.
Yes. Could the Ivy League have better civilized them?
Only if they went to be “civilized,” which I sincerely doubt. I’m sure they each found niches where they could perfect their pathology.
IMO these are ambitious and amoral men who checked all the boxes that would help them to gain power.
One of Hawley’s teachers at Oxford called him a fascist. He and Cruz are primarily Christian nationalists trying to transform the Country into a theocracy. The evangelical community also is responsible for the deadly terrorist attack of January 6.
I’d say they–Cruz and Hawley–are clever but lack any moral or ethical core. Their test scores got them into Ivy League universities and law schools. Their lack of a moral or ethical core enabled them to lie and deceive their way to the top in their states. They are the Bernie Madoffs of the Senate. Smart but cynical. Their ambition is larger than their soul. If they have one.
Man, if nothing else, these people really get me down. Time to break out the peanut butter crackers and apple juice.
Your comfort foods? I just made applesauce. 🙂
Among others, yes. I was out of crackers, so I went with peanut-butter toast. It turned out to be superior.
Don’t let it bring you down
It’s only castles burning
Find someone who’s turning
And you will come around
“But we reserve special condemnation for the perpetrators among them who are of sound mind and considerable intellect — those who should damn well know better.
None more than U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
A brilliant and frequent advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court and a former Texas solicitor general, Cruz knew exactly what he was doing, what he was risking and who he was inciting as he stood on the Senate floor Wednesday and passionately fed the farce of election fraud even as a seething crowd of believers was being whipped up by President Trump a short distance away.”
Part of the reason we ended up here is all of these people continue to believe an expensive private education and prestigious jobs = “character” or “bravery”
Cruz didn’t need a Harvard education or a series of fancy jobs to do the right thing here- all he needed to do was to be honest. He’s dishonest – a fancy college or powerful job can’t fix that.
President Trump lied about the election and so did more than 100 GOP members of Congress. One doesn’t have to be expensively educated not to lie- one just has to not be a liar. The problem is not that they’re stupid or poorly educated. The problem is they lack character.
Cruz is a Harvard Law grad.
Surely, that must tell us something.
“smart” doesn’t mean “good” and it never has.
The unibomber was brilliant.
Until we figure that out people like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz will continue to be elected.
Cruz could have done the right thing with just a high school diploma. He didn’t- not because he’s not smart but because he’s not good.
Ted Kaczynski is smart!
My hat is off to anyone who can spell Ted’s name.
The media played up the UNIbombers “brilliance” because it made good copy.
If he was so brilliant, why is he spending the rest of his life in a Supermax prison?
He might have been good at math — I say might because his very limited work over a very brief period had little if any impact — but that does not make him brilliant. So are lots of mathematicians, scientists and engineers who actually make important contributions.
Calls for Cruz to resign will likely fall on deaf ears. Appeals to his sense of right and wrong will fall flat. The man has a good mind, but very little conscience. Unless the Republican party calls for his resignation, Cruz will weather the storm. It is doubtful Republicans will turn against Cruz as he is a useful obstructionist.
If Republicans were the majority in both House and Senate, would they have overturned the election results? Does that mean the party in control determines who will be President by over riding the electoral college if the voters “get it wrong”. Talk about cheating – some Republicans, like Cruz, have made it an art form.
More than 300 of Ted Cruz’s classmates from the Princeton University class of ’92 have condemned his words and actions and for inventing false claims of voter fraud, undermining democracy and the Constitution.
Cruz should resign, the whole GOP should resign because it is ruled by the fringe wackos and predatory opportunists like Cruz and Hawley.
https://planetprinceton.com/2021/01/08/actions-of-sen-ted-cruz-at-capitol-denounced-by-princeton-university-classmates-in-joint-statement/
When journalists try to equate “extremists” in both parties, it is absurd. The right extremists want to overturn an election, but the so-called left extremists simply want equal justice and universal health care.
From the statement by the Princeton grads:
“An oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic precedes the taking of all elected offices in America.”
That’s a very awkward if not incorrect way of saying
“An oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic is taken by all elected officials in America.”
My high school English teachers would have redlined that for sure.
Must be Princeton English.
Grammar/syntactically impaired statements in service of condemning and exposing Ted Cruz for the cancerous pustule that he is, are not a sin.
And my above sentence gets an F- for composition, grammar, syntax, etc.
I agree they are not a sin and I applause their statement, but it is nonetheless strange.
Applaude
And self correct did that
Must have been made by a Princeton grad😀
Applaud
But wait, there’s more. Superman went to PU and he’s a Trump supporter. Dean Cain graduated from PU (’88), he played Superjerk on TV and he’s a Trump supporter. I wonder what Cain is saying now after the Trump riot of Jan. 6?
The taking of office
The taking of office
By Trump and his ilk
Is just what the Jabbas
Were born to fulfill
He was asking for those states to review the election results. He wanted physical and forensic studies of the machines and ballots. People would have accepted that. The evidence was never allowed to be viewed by the courts. Judges saw to that by stopping it on procedural grounds. Cruz and Hawley did nothing illegal.
April,
The time to make that request was before the Electoral College met, not after. We have a Constitution, remember? The Constitution lays out the steps in the election and certification of the President very clearly. Once the Electoral College has met and voted, the election is over.
What evidence of voter fraud?! There was no credible evidence of voter fraud only the baseless phony baloney assertions and fantasies of Trump and the lying GOP filth. Cruz and Hawley lied about voter fraud and tried to overturn a legal and certified election.
“The evidence was never allowed to be viewed by the courts.”
Wrong, the evidence was carefully reviewed by Trump appointed right wing Republican judges but there was nothing.
What you are supporting is a delaying tactics because the careful recounts found no fraud, and no one else found fraud, so now you and Trump demand the right to try to find fraud elsewhere by “physical and forensic studies of the machines and ballots”.
April Featherkile, this is like your lying enemy saying that he knows that April Featherkile has done something wrong and demands that a friendly judge and friendly police department allow his team to find “evidence” by carefully examining the last 20 years of your tax returns, your banking records, your phone calls, your e-mails and texts, and every post you ever made to find that “evidence”.
All you have to do is to state here for the record: “I April Featherkile agree to allow all of my tax returns, banking, e-mails, texts and all personal records made available to anyone who says they believe I did something wrong because that is their right to find the evidence, and if I refuse to allow them complete access to my records, it is a sign that I am guilty and should be locked up.”
Would you do that? Of course you would not. Because that is not how America works. You don’t look for evidence because you “think” there is a crime because you just don’t like that person or the outcome isn’t what you think.
The Republicans specialize in non-stop looking for evidence to smear people they don’t like or throw doubt on outcomes they don’t like. It’s wrong. It is anti-democratic and anti-American. It is supported by people who, like Trump, wanted a violent insurrection when he didn’t get his way.
As Mitt Romney said so well, no evidence will ever convince Trump supporters that Trump didn’t have his “victory” stolen. They will claim there is other evidence that is being hidden. Just like your sworn enemy could examine your tax records, find nothing wrong, and insist that he still needs to look for more evidence because he just knows you are corrupt and you are still hiding it from the public.
From lying comes cheating. And vice versa. We know Trump had someone take the test that got him into the U of Penn. P-U. Now, he should be going to the pen.
And Cruz is a slime ball who has far less character than anybody who ever has had to earn an honest living. Why does he make me think of the parents who recently were caught buying their kids into fancy schools? Perhaps, it’s because they all lack scruples. Do you suppose it leaves them feeling hollow?
Scary that this kind of behavior is rewarded–until you get exposed..
This tickled me:
the affable former House Speaker John Boehner who famously remarked: “I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”
Old joke:
Q. Why do people take an immediate dislike to Ted Cruz?
A. Saves time.