Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz was widely mocked after he took to X, formerly Twitter, to share how he's helping the city of Houston "rebuild" after a deadly storm struck last week—and was hit with a brutal reminder of his past actions.
Cruz faced considerable national backlash after he flew to Cancún while millions of people went without food and water as a result of the February 2021 Texas power disaster. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly; some estimates suggested as many as 702 people were killed as a result of the crisis.
But this week Cruz, with no sense of irony whatsoever, posted a message claiming all Texans "come together" in the wake of natural disasters:
"On Thursday, Houston was hit by a terrible storm. I've been working with community leaders, firefighters, and police officers to help the city rebuild. Whenever we have a natural disaster, Texans come together."
His post included a video in which he expressed his commitment to those impacted by the storm, which caused at least eight deaths and billions in damages:
"Houston was hit by a terrible storm Thursday night. Many are repairing their homes. The last two days I've gone to [a] emergency operations center, sat down with the mayor, sat down with the leadership of the city, the police, the fire [department], solid waste, everyone who is helping the city repair and rebuild."
Cruz said he "began the day with Councilman Edward Pollard" to assess the damage and that "every time there's a storm, Texans come together, Houstonians come together." He shared footage of himself meeting with Pollard, firefighters, and police officers.
He added:
"I have to say there's a common thread. Whenever Texas faces a crisis, Texans come together. I have seen this over and over and over again and now with this storm in Houston we're seeing it again. We see the heroes, the first responders, the firefighters, the police officers who risk their lives to keep us safe."
"Texas is resilient, Houston is resilient, and Houston knows how to do this. This is not our first rodeo. We will come back 'Houston Strong.'"
You can see his post and the video below.
But people weren't about to let Cruz forget his previous actions—and were quick to call out his hypocrisy.
Cruz has refused to take responsibility for his actions despite the criticisms about his ill-advised Cancún trip.
In an interview shortly after the controversy erupted with conservative radio host Dana Loesch, Cruz blamed criticism on "Trump withdrawal," implying that any and all criticism of his behavior amounted to little more than political histrionics because of former President Donald Trump's absence from the news cycle.
Cruz suggested that Trump "broke the media," accusing media outlets of merely wanting "to engage in political attacks." He claimed he went to Cancún to accompany his daughters, an apology that did not sit well with his critics either.
He insisted that his only faux pas had been simply "wanting to be a good dad," claiming he'd only accompanied them for a single night before flying back to Texas. However, Cruz’s social media accounts had not acknowledged any official travel.