Another unforced error by the GOP

| 3:00 pm EDT September 24, 2022
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Weird unforced errors, stupid political moves… whatever you want to call them, Congressional Republicans are committing them, and Ted Cruz has now grabbed the reins of this surreal ride as it careens off the rails. At this point, they might as well just tweet, “We Republicans don’t deserve your vote and we’re not qualified to lead! Vote for Democrats in November!”

Recently, Cruz tweeted to promote a new “Ports to Plains” highway that would begin in Laredo, Texas, and extend to North Dakota and into Canada. “This project will bring jobs to Texas and millions of dollars to the state,” he announced before calling it “A great bipartisan victory!” Publicizing government initiatives that benefit your state is, of course, what you would expect any U.S. senator to do. But Cruz has a problem: he voted against it.

The White House did not miss the golden opportunity to point this out, quoting Cruz’s triumphant tweet on Wednesday with the simple caption: “Senator Cruz voted against this.” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison added that “when you vote “NO” on legislation it means… wait for it… you DO NOT SUPPORT the bill,” and then proceeded to offer thanks to Senate Democrats “who care more about TX priorities than their Senator.”

In his defense, Cruz tried to explain that this was an instance of what “happens frequently in the United States Senate, where you end up working to get agreement… but then it gets rolled into a giant bill that has a whole bunch of good things and bad things.” The thing is, the highway funding was introduced by Cruz and Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján as an amendment to the omnibus bill, yet Cruz voted against that omnibus bill, even while tweeting about a great bipartisan victory.

Just as U.S. Judge Raymond Dearie, as special master, told Trump’s legal team on Tuesday that they can’t “have your cake and eat it too,” the White House is essentially sending the same message to Cruz about his highway project. This comes after the White House similarly dismantled several Congressional Republicans by tweeting to expose their hypocrisy for blasting Biden’s recent student debt cancellation despite the fact these lawmakers benefited substantially from Payment Protection Program loan forgiveness.

There is no better way to leave you now than with some insightful words about Cruz from his fellow Republican Senator Liz Cheney. Here’s what she tweeted just a few weeks ago: “Understanding @tedcruz isn’t difficult. He lacks principle and has always been a chameleon who will say anything, anytime. He thinks he’s so smart no one can see through him. Ted, we can. All of us can.”