Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, was criticized after complaining about rising gas prices only to then join the "People's Convoy" of truckers that has blocked the Washington, D.C. Beltway to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions.
Cruz attempted to seek an audience with the truckers and was deemed hypocritical for complaining about gas prices while backing a driving protest that has for days burned expensive diesel.
You can view Cruz greeting the convoy in the video below.
Cruz's actions are especially inconsistent because the evening before he attended the protest, he told Fox News that the Biden administration's energy policy is "completely incoherent" and complained that many Americans are feeling the pain of inflation at the gas pump.
Cruz alleged that President Joe Biden had entered office ready to wage "war against domestic energy production."
His remarks also bring to mind similar commentary from Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican who was ridiculed for asking his followers if they remembered "how cheap gas was" when former President Donald Trump was in office, which is incorrect given available data from the federal Energy Information Administration.
Cruz's actions received swift condemnation
Cruz's appearance at the protest no doubt won him points among those who've backed him for speaking out against vaccine mandates as the nation continues to contend with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The D.C. protest was inspired by Canada's "Freedom Convoy," a protest led by Canadian truckers who've pushed back against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The convoy, comprised of a minority of the country's truckers who've retaliated after the United States and Canada agreed to COVID-19 vaccine requirements for truckers to re-enter the country by land, for weeks garnered headlines amid concerns that organizers and groups have been involved with white nationalist contingents, QAnon, and other far-right groups.
Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau evoked the country's Emergencies Act for the first time since its passing in 1988, kicking off a large-scale operation that ultimately cleared the majority of protesters and dismantled much of the movement.
