Things are only getting worse for Senator Ted Cruz. Days after flying to Cancún, Mexico, while millions of Texans endured a bitter winter storm without heat or electricity, the politician returned to his home state to hand out water bottles. He shared a series of staged photos to his Twitter page on February 20, which showed the father-of-two unloading a carton of water from an SUV. He captioned the post “#TexasStrong” however his followers were quick to slam the “photo op” as a show of “fake compassion”.
#TexasStrong pic.twitter.com/gK4DHtsvLU
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) February 21, 2021
“I don’t care how many fake water bottle photo ops Ted Cruz does, the fact remains he does NOTHING for Texas,” one Twitter user wrote, while many others noted that New York senator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was raising more for the state than their own representative. “Ted Cruz moved a case of water from the backseat of an SUV to the trunk of a car. AOC raised four million dollars,” one user tweeted, while another joked, “BREAKING NEWS: Ted Cruz carries water for someone who isn’t Trump.”
Amid Ted’s controversial getaway to Mexico, AOC announced she was flying to Texas to hand out supplies in person. “Charity isn’t always a replacement for good governance, but we won’t turn away from helping people in need when things hit the fan,” the 31-year-old tweeted. “We’ve now raised $2 MILLION in relief for Texans & are adding more orgs. I’ll be flying to Texas today Airplane to visit with Houston Rep. Sylvia Garcia (@LaCongresista) to distribute supplies and help amplify needs & solutions,” she added.
Meanwhile, photos surfaced of Ted, his wife Heidi Cruz, and their two daughters boarding a flight at Houston’s George Bush International Airport. The following morning, the politician issued a statement saying that “with school canceled for the week, our girls asked us to take a trip with friends.” He claimed he was trying “to be a good dad” and accompany his daughters and his friends and was “flying back this afternoon.” However, it was soon revealed that the senator was attempting to use his children as a scapegoat, as The New York Times published leaked text messages between Heidi and some of their neighbors, as she detailed their lavish getaway from the “freezing” weather.