Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is getting mocked online yet again, this time for comments he made exactly one year ago.
Back in July of 2020, the Republican party was following the lead of former President Donald Trump in downplaying the virus that's gone on to kill more than 600 thousand Americans. They railed against basic pandemic safety guidelines and insisted the virus was little more than a terrible flu.
Cruz—being one of Trump's most loyal sycophants despite their bitter rivalry in the 2016 Republican primaries—was one of those conservatives, insisting Democrats were overblowing the virus for political purposes.
Watch below.
On July 22, 2020, Cruz said of the pandemic:
"If it ends up that Biden wins in November -- I hope he doesn't, I don't think he will -- but if he does, I guarantee you the week after the election, suddenly all those Democratic governors, all those Democratic mayors, will say, 'Everything's magically better. Go back to work. Go back to school. Suddenly all the problems are solved.'
You won't to have to wait for Biden to be sworn in. All they'll need is Election Day and suddenly their willingness to just destroy people's lives and livelihoods, they will have accomplished their task. That's wrong. It's cynical. And we shouldn't be a part of it."
Cruz was, of course, wildly wrong.
Biden did, in fact, win in November—despite baseless disputes from Senators like Cruz—but the pandemic was far from over. Cruz insisted that Democrats would lift restrictions before Biden was even sworn in.
In fact, the Biden administration implemented additional pandemic precautions on federal property on his first day in office. All the while, Cruz continued to lament and downplay the precautions.
On his MSNBC broadcast, host Chris Hayes pointed out just how wrong Cruz was, prompting a response from Cruz himself.
Cruz asked if small businesses in New York and California are largely open now, even though many have been open (with safety protocols in place) since before Election Day. He then alluded to a viral fabricated tweet from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claiming businesses needed to be closed until the election. Ocasio-Cortez never tweeted this.
One year later, on Thursday, people reminded Cruz of his incorrect prediction.
People weren't buying his attempts at justifying himself.
Probably best to take further predictions from Cruz with a grain—or shaker—of salt.
