Cruz regularly slams politicians for vacationing during crisis
CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski reports on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s habit of scrutinizing other politicians’ vacations and leisure activities. He previously criticized then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, saying he “should go back to the beach,” and attacked President Barack Obama twice.
In a 2015 speech referencing terror attacks in Paris, Cruz criticized Obama, “If only the terrorists attacked a golf course, that might actually get the White House’s attention: ‘Holy cow, this is serious.’”
In 2014, Cruz went after Obama for vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard: “I think the President should actually stand up and do his job as commander-in-chief, should spend less time on the golf course and more time doing the job to which he was elected.”
Cruz also criticized Austin Mayor Steve Adler for going to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, during the pandemic. “And don’t forget @MayorAdler who took a private jet with eight people to Cabo and WHILE IN CABO recorded a video telling Austinites to ‘stay home if you can…this is not the time to relax,’” Cruz tweeted Dec. 2 after news of the mayor’s vacation became public.
The senator went to Cancún, Mexico, from Houston with his family Wednesday night as a winter storm left millions of Texans without power or water and disrupted the state’s efforts to distribute the coronavirus vaccine. He returned Thursday when photos of his departure circulated online.
Texas governor deflects blame with ‘deeply misleading’ claims about wind turbines
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans pointed to renewable energy sources, including wind and solar power, as the culprits of the state’s massive power outages while millions of Texas remained without power, CNN reported.
Wind facility shutdowns accounted for less than 13% of the outages, according to the news network.
Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas at Austin, countered Abbott’s faulty attribution and called it “disingenuous” to blame the state’s grid struggles on renewables: “We have a fossil-fuel-dominated grid .. it’s really a bigger failure of the natural gas system. That’s the part that really struggled to keep up.”
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke also countered Abbott’s disinformation on Twitter: “You’re the governor of a state where millions don’t have power, where people are literally dying of exposure, and you go on Fox news to talk about … the Green New Deal? You are the governor. Your party has run Texas for 20 years. Accept responsibility & help us get out of this.”
Amid the Texas freeze, O’Rourke announced that he and volunteers had made more than 300,000 wellness calls to seniors throughout the state. The volunteer calls are a focused effort to help seniors who need heat, water, food and shelter during the extreme weather.
He’s also shared links to resources for residents across the state. Cruz has shared a New York Post link about his own request for the Senate Judiciary Committee to open an investigation into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 nursing home death scandal.
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