Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz was widely criticized after he suggested Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren might have a penis during a transphobic speech.
Speaking at the seventh annual Basque fry to support Republican Adam Laxalt’s challenge against Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto for the Senate in Nevada. in Nevada on August 13, Cruz recounted a story Warren told about a moment during her presidential primary campaign when a man told her that he would have voted for her if she had a penis.
You can hear what Cruz said in the video below.
Cruz said:
“Elizabeth Warren told reporters that guy came up to her and said, ‘I would have voted for you if only you a had a penis.’ Now let me say two things about this.”
"Number one, that story is a lie. Produce this fictional person, because this human being does not exist. That’s not even 1/1024th true."
"But number two, in today’s Democrat Party, how do we know she doesn’t? Like for Democrats, how could you possibly know?”
[in a deeper voice] “Hi, my name is Elizabeth. Call me Bob. This is my beard.”
Cruz's joke was widely criticized and many said it amounted to both transphobia and sexual harassment.
Cruz has been scrutinized for anti-trans rhetoric in the past.
For instance, the week of Associate Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings, Cruz was accused of grandstanding after he mocked transgender people's identities by asking if he as a Hispanic man could "decide" to be Asian, and inquired whether he would "have the ability to be an Asian man and challenge Harvard’s discrimination" in a dig at affirmative action policies designed to improve employment or educational opportunities for underrepresented groups.
Jackson responded she was unable to answer the question because Cruz was asking her about "hypotheticals." Cruz was chastised by Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, for going over his time limit.
After sparring with Durbin, Cruz sat back, took out his phone, and checked his Twitter mentions to see if the moment had begun to trend online, a move that was confirmed by reporters tasked with covering the hearings and that exposed him to widespread mockery.
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