This past January, winter storms in Texas decimated the state's independent power grid, leaving millions of Lone Star State residents with no power or electricity, and no safe way to drive to get provisions.
The state's Republican Senator, Ted Cruz, saw universal backlash after he and his family flew to sunny Cancún, Mexico once they lost power. Cruz was accused of abandoning his constituents, and returned from the trip early for damage control, calling the trip a mistake. He has since joked about going to Cancún on multiple occasions.
But the already severe winter storms may have been even more cataclysmic than we originally thought.
The official death toll of the storms is at 151, but a new report from Buzzfeed News found the death toll was likely much higher.
The report reads in part:
"But by looking at how many more people died during and immediately after the storm than would have been expected — an established method that has been used to count the full toll of other disasters — we estimate that 700 people were killed by the storm during the week with the worst power outages."
The piece was featured in a segment on MSNBC's The 11th Hour with Brian Williams, who escalated his recent feud with Cruz by calling out Cruz's Cancún vacation.
Watch below.
Williams said:
"Of course, the families of the dead so many of them poor and lacking a political voice. They know the truth, they know how their loved ones died. During the storm, they had no choice but to do what they could to survive and some of them did not make it."
Then, as pictures of Cruz returning from Cancún appeared onscreen, Williams said:
"It does make you wonder why they didn't just believe get out of Texas and fly somewhere warm. I`m being told some left to go somewhere warm but most folks were forced to stay home in Texas, except for the time they spent lining up in the cold for necessities during the storm."
People shared Williams' derision for Cruz—and appreciated the callout.
Famous for his eagerness to engage in Twitter feuds, some expect Cruz himself to respond on Twitter.
Cruz, however, has yet to respond.
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