Which meltdown of Ted Cruz's are we on in 2021?
After Ted Cruz was branded "Cancun Cruz" for the now-infamous moment where he was spotted flying to Cancun on vacation with his family instead of attending to the state of Texas during a natural disaster of historic proportions, Cruz has now garnered a new nickname.
This time, it's "Kremlin Cruz." And Ted is none too happy about his new moniker.
Cruz earned the nickname after sharing a piece of Russian propaganda on his Twitter feed, with the caption "Holy c**p. Perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea…"
MSNBC's Brian Williams said of Cruz:
"By all accounts, Ted Cruz did not like the nickname Cancun Cruz, though he tried joking about it, acting like it didn't matter. He really won't like being called Kremlin Cruz after his latest and remarkably stupid lapse in judgement."
"Don't we want committed and motivated members of our all-volunteer armed forces? … Imagine how happy it makes [Russia] to have yet another advocate among Republican members of the Senate?"
Cruz had a six-tweet long meltdown in response.
1/x Is there a more pitiful example of corrupt corporate media than Brian Williams?\n\nHe was fired as the anchor of NBC Nightly News for "misrepresenting events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003.\u201d Now, he\u2019s a left-wing hack at MSNBC.https://www.msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/ted-cruz-roundly-criticized-after-sharing-russian-propaganda-112694853992\u00a0\u2026— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1621645763
2/x Now, he\u2019s throwing a hissy fit that I criticized the ridiculously woke video that the Biden admin put out. Williams accidentally told the truth, when he describes it as \u201ca video meant to diminish the U.S. military.\u201d\n\nTRUE. That\u2019s the problem. (The Pentagon put it out.)— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1621646100
3/x Now, with his trademark ignorant snark, he\u2019s dubbed me \u201cKremlin Cruz.\u201d\n\nThree problems:\n\n(1) I hate communists, my family was imprisoned & tortured by communists, and Brian is a shameless apologist for Russian (and Chinese and Cuban) communists.— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1621646852
4/x (2) I was arguing that our military needs to be able to kick the ass of Russian soldiers. It\u2019s Brian & his lefty comrades that are working relentlessly to diminish the effectiveness of the U.S. military\u2014the finest fighting force on the face of the planet.— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1621647018
5/x And (3) JUST THIS WEEK Biden gave Putin a multi-billion-dollar gift, when he waived mandatory U.S. sanctions to allow Russia to build Nord Stream 2, a massive natural gas pipeline to Germany.\n\nWho authored the sanctions that STOPPED NS2? That would be me.— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1621647212
6/x Cover that, Brian.\n\nBut that would be actual news, something you don\u2019t do.\n\nUse your condescending wit to call Biden \u201cKremlin Joe\u201d\u2014he\u2019s the one illegally giving billions to Putin.\n\nBut your corporate overlords wouldn\u2019t let you.\n\nCongrats, Brian. You are Pravda.— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1621647360
Cruz's meltdown contains several erroneous leaps in logic, but three major moments deserved special attention.
- Cruz's assertion he "hates communists." Cruz then said Williams was an apologist for communists around the globe without offering any evidence to that point.
- Cruz's argument the US Army needed to be able to "kick the a**" of the Russian military; something completely and totally unexplained and unsupported in the original tweet, which seemed to laud the effectiveness of the Russian's military in a favorable comparison to the United States' military.
- Cruz's idea Biden should be called "Kremlin Joe," despite Biden's unwaveringly critical eye on Putin, whom he has openly called "a killer."
Kremlin Cruz. That is PERFECTLY spot on! It would be funnier of he weren't my senator or a senator at all....\nThe how is it that we're prosecuting 500 people for the attempted coup, but @tedcruz & @HawleyMO still have jobs?\nThey're certainly not representing Americans...— Cassandra (@Cassandra) 1621798722
Now #KremlinCruz is throwing a hissy fit yet again because he got called out for disparaging (yet again) our strong proud women in the Military. Are there two better examples of Un-American military values than the draft dodging Trump clan and never serving Cruz?— Falcon44 (@Falcon44) 1621782115
So Biden gives the metal of honor to a long deserved American serviceman and Ted Cruz insults our military and praises the Kremlin military all in the same week. WTF #KremlinCruz #KremlinKruzpic.twitter.com/ZQPYfZHF5N— Magz (@Magz) 1621793715
pic.twitter.com/SZANFc3XiH— Edin Mujkic (@Edin Mujkic) 1621733319
Cruz has also taken action that more closely mirrors Vladimir Putin's style of governing, being one of former President Donald Trump's biggest advocates for the "Big Lie" of widespread election fraud.
Cruz, along with GOP Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri were cited by fellow members of Congress as being directly responsible for inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
Ted really hates it when he\u2019s called #KremlinCruz . He should watch his mouth complimenting Putin\u2019s army while disparaging our brave men & women. So the problem is all his , and his alone. He is no patriot. His only goal is to maintain power.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1395914190141935616\u00a0\u2026— Sandra Bird (@Sandra Bird) 1621823871
Well, @tedcruz then you're even more pathetic than we originally thought\n\nYour actions support the Kremlin agenda. Why? What intel did Putin give Trump to hold over you?\n\nYou support the destruction of our democracy... which is what Putin wants\n\nGeez dude... who WON'T you betray?https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1395914190141935616\u00a0\u2026— Joyce says the GOP will not destroy our democracy (@Joyce says the GOP will not destroy our democracy) 1621810990
#KremlinCruz is butthurthttps://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1395914190141935616\u00a0\u2026— Four Seasons Total ANTIFA (@Four Seasons Total ANTIFA) 1621802487
If the name fits wear it.\n#KremlinCruz \n#KremlinCruz \n#KremlinCruzhttps://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1395914190141935616\u00a0\u2026— NoahBout \u262f\ufe0f\ud83d\udc99\ud83c\udf51\u262e\ufe0f (@NoahBout \u262f\ufe0f\ud83d\udc99\ud83c\udf51\u262e\ufe0f) 1621791342
Whoops, someone struck a nerve on #KremlinCruz. It would be a shame if his cool new name stuck.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1395914190141935616\u00a0\u2026— Milk Dud's Favorite Lawyer (@Milk Dud's Favorite Lawyer) 1621791205
#KremlinCruz has a certain ring to it even Cancun Cruz couldn't quite fulfill.
Although if the Texas Republican—by way of Calgary, Alberta, Canada where Cruz was born—dislikes the new moniker, he should probably avoid sharing Russian propaganda on Twitter.