inflation
He left Texas alone in the storm chaos. Now the next threatens. And Ted Cruz whines about airfares to Mexico
With the looming winter storms, was Ted Cruz in a vacation mood?
© Brynn Anderson/DPA
Almost exactly a year ago, Texas was in a state of emergency after a winter storm. And Governor Ted Cruz had to be left wondering why he’d rather view the chaos from afar in Mexico. Now the state is expecting the next storm: And Cruz seems to be looking for flights.
It was a situation familiar from disaster areas. Cities were completely disconnected from the power grid, people were freezing in unheated houses, and food was scarce. Last year, winter storm Uri brought Texas into a state of emergency and killed at least 246 people. And Governor Ted Cruz? He had quickly slipped away on vacation with his family. And seems to be planning something similar this year.
Ted Cruz complains about airfares to Cancun
The situation could repeat itself almost a year later. The harsh onset of winter in the USA did not go unnoticed by the state, which is otherwise known for its warm climate. Last week, more than 70,000 people were left without electricity at times. Because the extremely fragile power grid has hardly been revised despite numerous protestations, the dangers remain the same as a year ago.
+++ Also read: Burst pipes, empty supermarkets: Outages in Texas show how dependent we are on electricity +++
Insensitive complaint
So it’s not surprising that a tweet from Governor Cruz is causing a lot of anger in the United States. He probably wanted to trigger them too, but steer them in a different direction – namely towards the government of Democratic President Joe Biden. “Inflation is out of control,” the Republican told the government. “Gasoline costs have gone up. Grocery costs have gone up. Lumber prices have gone up.” Had he ended his tweet at this point, it would have had the desired effect. But Cruz added another example. And that didn’t put him in a good light. “And tickets to Cancun are up a whopping 32 percent,” he ended the tweet.
The reactions were correspondingly violent. Many users of social networks took up the tweet, accused Cruz of being tactless and lacking in sensitivity, and that the tweet was not helpful given the current situation, many wrote. Others defended the post as a self-deprecating joke by the governor. Following the debate, #Cancun trended on Twitter for a while.
The fact that Cruz posted the tweet as a provocative joke is not entirely outlandish. After cutting short his vacation to Mexico last year due to mounting pressure, he called it an “obvious mistake.” He shouldn’t have taken the family trip, he admitted. “I was just trying to be a good father.” Since then, Cruz has repeatedly joked about the mistake himself. Whether that would be appropriate given the first situation in Texas is another matter.
Sources:KXAN Austin, The Guardians, Washington Post