Ted Cruz Gets Blunt Reminder After Demanding Stop To 'Partisan Politics' Following Texas Floods

Texas MAGA Republican Senator Rafael "Ted" Cruz returned Sunday night to the United States from a European vacation. On Monday morning, he took the opportunity to get behind microphones to criticize anyone questioning why the death toll was so high on Friday in an area Texans have nicknamed Flash Flood Alley.

On Thursday, July 3, the National Weather Service issued flash flood alerts and warnings for the Guadalupe River basin in an area west of San Antonio, Texas. A popular outdoor recreation area, the Texas Hill Country would see many visitors in primarily Kerr County for the 4th of July weekend.

Early Friday morning, the Guadalupe River rose over 26 feet in 45 minutes creating a swath of destruction that left communities devastated and a lot of people with a lot of questions.

But as he does after mass shootings, including ones that occur in elementary schools in his own state, Cruz chastised anyone who might want answers to some seemingly obvious questions.

Questions about communication gaps, early warning systems, and protecting people in a known flash flood zone that's killed people before.

Cruz told the cameras:

"One of the things that’s predictable is that you see some people engaging in, I think, partisan games and trying to blame their political opponents for a natural disaster."

He continued:

"I think there have been some eager to point at the National Weather Service and say cuts there led to a lack of warning. I think that's contradicted by the facts."

"And if you look at the facts, No. 1, these warnings went out hours before the flood became a true emergency level. But No. 2, the National Weather Service here—New Braunfels is where they were headquartered—had additional manpower."

"In fact they had three additional people working that night, anticipating it was going to be a very dangerous weather situation."

Cruz declared it was "reasonable" to ask questions about "what could have been done better" at a later date, echoing his usual mass shooting refrain.

However, that later date for discussion never seems to happen. Although with the frequency of mass shootings in the United States, it is difficult to find a window of opportunity.

Perhaps Cruz and his ilk will allow the grieving families and Texas communities to ask their questions and get answers this time.

Cruz, unsurprisingly, added:

"But I think just immediately trying to use it for either side to attack their political opponents, I think that's cynical and not the right approach."

Cruz sang a distinctly different tune when the disasters were happening in a state not controlled by a Republican governor and GOP majority legislature.

Earlier this year, Cruz joined other MAGA members of Congress to threaten to withhold federal disaster relief aid to wildfire victims in California.

Days after the wildfires started, Cruz got on his podcast to blame every Democrat he could, saying:

"When a disaster is unfolding, it is easy to take shots at the political leadership, and I’m hesitant to do so, but in this instance, there were multiple decisions made by the state of California, made by the mayor and the city government of Los Angeles, multiple decisions that unquestionably played a significant role in making this disaster much much worse."

The same is currently being said of Governor Greg Abbott and the GOP-controlled Texas legislature that voted against early warning systems for rural communities like the ones affected by the July 4th flash flood.

But Cruz finds such lines of inquiry for Texas officials inappropriate.

When California's power grid failed during an August 2020 heat wave, Cruz tweeted:

"California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity. Biden/Harris/AOC want to make CA’s failed energy policy the standard nationwide. Hope you don’t like air conditioning!"

Six months later it was the Texas power grid failing, which should have made Cancun Cruz mend his ways. But in September 2022, he was back at it.

California's power grid was overloaded again during an anomalous heat wave, prompting Cruz to tell Fox News:

"I love that Gavin Newsom was wearing his fleece, obviously in cool air conditioning. Saying, ‘Let them eat cake, let them sweat—you don’t get air conditioning!'"

"It’s like John Kerry, who flies his private jet all over the planet lecturing people that you poor gritty working class with dirt under your fingernails: You need to go without an automobile, you need to turn your air conditioner off. In fact, you need to just stay home and eat worms."

People were sick of Cruz's "rules for thee, not for me"-style mantra.

  @angrystaffer/Bluesky

  @CactusBengal/X

   ‪@faineg/Bluesky

Cruz also found himself facing criticism for being on vacation outside the U.S. while his constituents were dying.

Again.

Unlike when he fled to Cancun, Mexico, in February 2021 to avoid the same fate as the Texans who were dying as they sat without power for days during a major winter storm, Cruz's American Independence Day trip to Greece was planned well in advance of the devastating floods in the pre-dawn hours of Friday morning.

Cruz's office stated he rushed back to Texas "as fast as humanly possible," but just as a snapshot of him scurrying off to Cancun poked holes in his 2021 lies, another photo is disputing his latest claims of devotion to his voters.

Cruz was caught touring the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, on Saturday, 24 hours after the flooding was public knowledge.

A quick search showed Cruz could have booked numerous flights from Greece to any number of airports in Texas before the one he eventually boarded on Sunday.

Cruz didn't return to Texas until Sunday night.

The death toll of the Independence Day flash floods that hit central Texas has risen to 110 people. An estimated 161 people are still missing.