Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), facing an outpouring of backlash after being caught fleeing to a tropical getaway in Mexico on Wednesday as millions of Texans went without running water or heat during a snowstorm, attempted to do some damage control on Thursday by slinking back to his home state and shamelessly pinning the blame on his kids. His two pre-teen daughters had asked to go to Cancún, the Republican senator claimed, and “wanting to be a good dad,” he decided to fly with them on Wednesday night.
Cruz notably did not mention at the time when he had originally planned to return to the U.S., raising suspicions over the true motives behind his departure from Mexico so soon after photos of him on the plane went viral.
And then someone in a group chat with Heidi Cruz, the senator’s wife, threw everything into a tailspin.
Not long after Cruz issued his statement, the New York Times published a scoop detailing a series of texts from Heidi Cruz in the group chat in which she complained about her “FREEZING” home in Texas and invited everyone to join her and her family at the Ritz Carlton in Cancún. One of the texts included her flight itinerary that showed their return was scheduled for Sunday.
“Anyone can or want to leave for the week?” Heidi Cruz asked.
Another person in the group chat confirmed the veracity of the texts to the Times, and Democratic opposition group American Bridge posted full screenshots of the messages, which did not directly mention Cruz’s children. One of them did note, however, that the hotel rooms were $309 plus tax per night.
The GOP senator later admitted that he had cut his trip short, claiming that he “started having second thoughts almost the moment I sat down on the plane” and that the vacation was “obviously a mistake.”
The brutal fact that at least two people in the Cruzs’ inner circle (or at least in close proximity to them) saw fit to leak embarrassing private texts to one of the biggest news outlets in the country didn’t go unnoticed:
I'm not saying Ted and Heidi Cruz are despised by the people in their innermost circle, but imagine thinking you're close enough friends with someone to go to Mexico with them for a week and then they immediately show your texts to the New York Times. https://t.co/fkjlIhDLqb
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) February 18, 2021
The Ted Cruz group chat leaker watching the chaos unfold in that same group chat knowing damn well they did it. pic.twitter.com/5YtsmvGrNm
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) February 19, 2021
friends leaking from the group chat to the New York Times is the highest, finest form of betrayal and frankly I don’t know why people don’t do it more often
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) February 19, 2021
Damn somebody from the group chat dimed out the Cruz family. Cold world. pic.twitter.com/YsgQYO7lRm
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) February 19, 2021
Would watch a movie just about the paranoid search for the mole in the Cruz group chat.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 19, 2021
OH MY GOD I’M DYING THE GROUP CHAT SOLD HER OUT https://t.co/a767P8dFvP
— ?????’? ????? ???? ???? (@resisterhood) February 18, 2021
Whoever leaked the Heidi Cruz’s group chat to @American_Bridge chose complete violence. It be ya own people pic.twitter.com/yORpVA6cVQ
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 19, 2021
the mole in the Cruz group chat earlier today: pic.twitter.com/nQtcFtjK1m
— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) February 19, 2021
— ? (@samthielman) February 19, 2021
The two River Oaks moms who snitched on Heidi Cruz were definitely in a side group chat talking shit for quite a while before all this went down, I just know it.
— maybe: diane (@dianelyssa) February 19, 2021
Heidi Cruz's group chat right now pic.twitter.com/8Di6cjsu8O
— T. Kyle ?️? (@tkylemac) February 19, 2021
who among us hasn’t misread the vibe of the group chat and ended up in the NYT
— JP (@jpbrammer) February 19, 2021
I’m sorry, this is far too many people in a group text. More than four in a text is an extreme liability and multiple screenshots. pic.twitter.com/N470GllouG
— alex (@alex_abads) February 19, 2021
Quite something to be so universally reviled that even your wife’s group chat girls will roll on you https://t.co/0SFwM3dbtt
— Amanda Mull (@amandamull) February 18, 2021
Now I wanna see the texts from the side group chat that has everybody except Heidi Cruz
— Connor Finnegan (@ConnorFinnegan) February 18, 2021
the key to every group chat is mutually assured destruction. if you're the only one dropping tea, you're at risk. if one person is a little too silent, they gotta go
— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) February 19, 2021
Yesterday was a good day because everyone was able to hit pause and sh!t on Ted Cruz.
What is it that major pols and rich and famous people don’t get about the 'Intertubes"? They might as well post their messages on highway billboards. ETA: the 1 smart thing Mr. Trump did was to never use email so there would be no electronic record of his improper communications.
Rafael got caught in the act and it’s just astonishing to see how the GOP’s 24/7 BS Machine is dialed up to 11 to defend him.
Memories of living in Pennsylvania when Hurricane Agnes hit and delivered a damaging blow to Wilkes-Barre and Congressman Dan Flood immediately went back to his district and took command getting relief supplies distributed and cleanup crews organized.
Nice to see folks like Beto and The Castro Brothers stepping up and doing the Dan Flood role. Oh and AOC raised a million dollars in aid for Texans.
By the way where is Cornyn? Hiding like the chicken he really is?
Hehehe
