Cruz'n for a Bruz'n

The timeline of Senator Ted Cruz's aborted escape to Cancun while Texans froze in their homes

Sometimes a politician’s actions clearly and unequivocally show their true motivations, and Senator Ted Cruz has now shown them twice in a little over a month. First, there was his attempt to overturn the free and fair election of President Biden by propagating former President Trump’s lies about massive election fraud. Now, Senator Ted Cruz’s ill-fated flight to Cancun should serve as a second clear reminder about who he is—a politician who cares only about himself and will keep trying to pull the wool over oour eyes to meet his ends.

Since Mr. Cruz is already attempting to spin, lie, and minimize his way out of the deep doo-doo he flew into, the timeline below is recounted for posterity (and the 2024 election.)

We begin our story with historic freezing temperatures in Texas and the catastrophic failure of the power grid. This of course occurred during a pandemic, where people were already being urged to avoid gathering in groups and traveling unnecessarily so as to reduce the spread of the virus.

February 15, 2021

Speaking on The Joe Pags Show, Texas Senator Ted Cruz acknowledged the situation and cautioned:

I was speaking this weekend with a meteorologist expert who was saying (that with) the combination of these two storms, we could see 100 people lose their lives this week in Texas . . . So, don’t risk it. Keep your family safe, and just stay home and hug your kids.

Sound advice, Mr. Cruz!

February 17

It’s one thing to tell other people to stay in their freezing homes, but a completely different thing when your home is freezing. So, Mrs. Cruz sprang into action. Leaked messages obtained by the local news outlet Reform Austin show she began organizing friends for a vacay to Mexico, quickly finding an available luxury hotel and flight leaving right away. She wrote:

By the afternoon, the Cruz family and friends were en route to Cancun, aided by a police escort—since the police have nothing better to do during a historic emergency.

As [Cruz] and his family made their way to Mexico, the senator’s team asked Houston Police Department personnel to monitor his movements as they went through security at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, as the city struggled with 1.3 million people without power, frozen pipes, and a boil water notice for its citizens, many of whom lacked the electricity or gas to do so, leaving them essentially without fresh water. 

The family dog was apparently left at home. Although concern was rampant on social media that the dog had been left hungry in the freezing cold, it looks like the power was back on, and a security guard had been commissioned to look after the dog.

At least the Cruz family accommodations were much more comfortable than some freezing house in Texas! See the Ritz -Carlton Cancun, below.

Meanwhile, back in Texas, people were lining up for things like food, water, and propane.

Other politicians took a different angle on the problem.

• Beto O’Rourke, a former U.S. Representative who narrowly lost to Cruz in the 2018 Texas Senate race, organized a virtual phone bank to connect victims to resources.

• U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—who is from New York, not Texas—raised over $1 million dollars in relief funds.

February 18, 2021

People had posted Cruz’s picture in the airport on social media, so the backlash against Cruz ensued almost immediately. The next day, he was on his way back to Texas. He tried for a while to spin it in different ways. First, it was just the fatherly thing to do:

With school cancelled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon.

This raises more questions than it answers. Why was Mrs. Cruz unable to manage to get the kids to Cancun on her own? How was she going to get them back? And since we’re in a pandemic, how is it being a “good dad” to allow them to fly around with their friends?

Cruz didn’t have to worry about answering those questions though because the news soon broke that, actually, like the rest of the family, he was originally staying until Sunday. But, he had quickly changed his flight the morning after arriving.

Then, Cruz changed his story to being a matter of conscience—the kind you have when you get caught doing something you shouldn’t have been doing.

From the moment I sat on the plane, I began really second-guessing that decision, and saying 'Look, I know why we're doing this, but I've also got responsibilities, and it had been my intention to be able to work remotely, to be on the phone, to be on the internet, to be on Zoom, to be engaged, but I needed to be here and that's why I came back.

Really? Is anyone buying this?

Still unexplained: Why it was okay for him and not the others, whom he repeatedly criticized for vacationing during crises.

For a great wrap-up on it and several other hypocritical statements by Cruz, see the video below.