Ted Cruz Dragged After Telling Kids To Reject Birthday Gifts In Favor Of Trump Accounts

Texas GOP Senator Rafael "Ted" Cruz joined MAGA Republican President Donald Trump for an event in the Oval Office about the so-called Trump accounts—investment savings accounts for children that go "straight to the stock market"—launched by the Trump administration in July.

After being prompted by Trump, Cruz declared:

"Mr. President, congratulations. This is unquestionably going to be one of the biggest parts of your legacy as President."

You can see Cruz's fawning admiration for Trump here:

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Cruz addressed the kids in the room, saying:

"We have these, the, these kids here, sixth and seventh graders. You guys now, each of you has an investment account and you're going to be owners."

After telling the kids they owned stocks in companies like Apple, Dell Computers, and McDonald's, Cruz told Trump and the kids:

"Your administration designed the app. It's a beautiful app you can download from, from the Trump account store, but it makes it really easy for anyone to contribute to your account. You have a little QR code that you could send your next birthday party."

Cruz continued:

"You know, your aunt Susie might get you an ugly sweater and you might say to Aunt Susie, 'Instead of the ugly sweater, how about put 50 bucks in my Trump account' and you can pull it up on your phone and look at it and see it growing."

People were nonplussed by Cruz's Trump account sales pitch.

@aquilaqua/X

Some quickly figured out why kids would own stock in Dell computers bought with money donated by Michael and Susan Dell...

@BadFoxGraphics/X

...who were standing next to Trump during the Oval Office event, being thanked for donating money so Trump accounts could be used to buy stock in Dell.

Under temporary Treasury regulations enacted for the accounts, corporate or charitable "mega donors" like the Dells can directly gift specific shares under strict qualification rules—like holding unsold for five years—rather than allowing a child's individual guardian to pick an approved investment fund.

Initial contributions also automatically go into a designated default U.S. stock index fund managed by the account's financial institution or trustee instead of a child's guardian.

Trump announced "over $4.5 billion" was invested and 70 million children were automatically enrolled by his administration in Trump investment accounts without their parents' consent or participation.