Are we at a point yet where we can joke about Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz running off to Cancun while 200 of his constituents froze to death in a freak winter storm?
No? Too soon?
Well Cruz, for one, disagrees with you. He thinks his little Cancun escapade is funny enough he recently joked about it in an effort to mock Democratic President Joe Biden.
But the internet isn't having any of it.
Cruz cracked wise about his Cancun scandal in a tweet, seen below, in which he and the Republican Party excoriated Biden for "going on vacation"—to his home in Delaware two hours from Washington—this past weekend.
Cancun is lovely this time of year.https://twitter.com/GOP/status/1446914212186443778\u00a0\u2026— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1633816850
Quote-tweeting a post from the Republican Party which decried Biden going on vacation "YET AGAIN" to "[run] away from all the problems he has caused," Cruz quipped:
"Cancun is lovely this time of year."
The jab at Biden is ridiculous on its face--Biden's Delaware house is a two-hour drive from the White House, and there are currently no act-of-God calamities besetting the United States at this time.
Contrast that with Cruz's Cancun debacle.
While he was jetting off nearly 2,000 miles away to another country, a freak February winter storm had plunged Texas' temperatures as low as -2 Fahrenheit and knocked out power to more than 5 million of its citizens. Having been born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, you'd think a Canadian immigrant like Cruz would be able to handle the cold temperatures of Texas.
At least 210 of Cruz's constituents died. Independent analysis has since determined that death toll is all but certainly too low, and may be as high as 978.
Hilarious stuff, Senator Cruz.
On Twitter, people were not having it with Cruz's attempt at humor and they clapped back hard.
The setup here is that a senator went on a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Cancun while millions of people in his state lost power during extreme winter storms, and then he fought an infrastructure bill because of "reckless spending". The punchline is that the senator is you.— Cody Johnston (@Cody Johnston) 1633818038
When Texas crumbling infrastructure power grid goes down and water pipes burst and people of Texas freeze to deathpic.twitter.com/RBjsNPYmC4— JoeIsYourPresident\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a (@JoeIsYourPresident\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a) 1633817528
Vacation? It is his home\u2026.90 miles up the road. 17 minutes by plane back to DC. Raphael, what is your problem?— Ruthie Kitty/2012! (@Ruthie Kitty/2012!) 1633819775
When Texas freezes overpic.twitter.com/SoXG9GSYaB— JoeIsYourPresident\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a (@JoeIsYourPresident\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a) 1633817322
Of course you would know, you went there went Texas was going through a crisis with the power grid— Starfish and coffee (@Starfish and coffee) 1633890036
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-often-trump-golfed-during-first-100-days-compared-to-obama-bush-and-clinton-2017-4\u00a0\u2026— Sherry Sherry (@Sherry Sherry) 1633886969
A joke about throwing your daughters under the bus? Haha. Never gets old.— Mike Paroulek (@Mike Paroulek) 1633820141
Wow. You actually think thats funny \n\nTexas, this is who you elected to represent you.\n\nWinter is coming.— the truth (@the truth) 1633896546
You would know.— Caitlin (@Caitlin) 1633817079
I can\u2019t believe you think this is funny. You do realize people here in Texas died during that storm last February, don\u2019t you. Without electricity, people who are on oxygen, dialysis, and other treatments, were in serious danger. Plus, we were without heat for days.— Carolyn Adams (@Carolyn Adams) 1633888251
While Biden has spent more weekends away from the White House so far than either former Republican President Donald Trump or former Democratic President Barack Obama had by this point in their presidencies, neither man's homes were a drivable distance from the capital.
And as for Trump, he'd spent four times as much time golfing by this juncture in his presidency than Biden has. He in fact spent fully one-third of his tenure on his own golf courses.
Cruz has never made any comment on former President Trump's travel habits.