Ted Cruz on leaked Cancun trip texts: ‘Here’s a suggestion, just don’t be a------s’

Sen. Ted Cruz offered a new response to the criticism and backlash following his trip to Cancun, Mexico, last week during Texas’ power crisis.

Cruz, a Texas Republican, said on Josh Holmes’ Ruthless podcast released on Tuesday that his wife Heidi Cruz is “pretty pissed” about the texts leaked to The New York Times about the Cancun trip.

“Here’s a suggestion just don’t be a------s. Yeah, like just you know treat each other as human beings have some degree, some modicum of respect,” Ted Cruz said.

Ted Cruz also said: “Look, I haven’t had this much negative press coverage since Northern California in the 1960s,” referring to the serial killer called “The Zodiac Killer,” whom Cruz has jokingly been compared to in the past.

He added that “we have a number of Republicans who are neighbors but we also have a lot of Democrats, folks on our streets who put up Beto signs, which I thought was a little rude.”

Photos of Ted Cruz and his wife boarding the flight to Cancun quickly circulated social media last week and resulted in fierce criticism. At the time, Texas was experiencing its worst blackout in decades after a deadly winter storm left millions in freezing temperatures without power.

At first, Ted Cruz said in a statement that he was accompanying his daughters to Cancun for a short trip with friends, and that he was “wanting to be a good dad.”

The leaked text messages from Heidi Cruz to her neighbors and friends on Wednesday Feb. 17 showed a quickly-planned trip to Cancun scheduled for until Sunday. Heidi Cruz said that their house was “FREEZING” and that their family “couldn’t stand it anymore.” She invited others to join them at Cancun’s Ritz-Carlton, where she said they stayed “many times” with room prices at $309 per night.

Ted Cruz later said that the trip was “obviously a mistake” after returning home to Houston on Thursday, The Associated Press reported.

“I didn’t want all the screaming and yelling about this trip to distract even one moment from the real issues that I think Texans care about, which is keeping all of our families safe,” he said. “In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Ted Cruz has faced calls to resign from state political leaders and protesters.

“Ted Cruz jetting off to Mexico while Texans remain dying in the cold isn’t surprising but it is deeply disturbing and disappointing,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said, according to the Texas Tribune. “Now, he is proving to be an enemy to our state by abandoning us in our greatest time of need. For the 21st time, the Texas Democratic Party calls on Ted Cruz to resign or be expelled from office.”

In response to the backlash, Ted Cruz told ABC13: “Let’s be very clear, the angry haters screaming resign, we’re at a very divided place in our country, where people are screaming vitriol and hate, and I think that is a very sad sign of where we are.”

Donald Trump Jr. came to Ted Cruz’s defense on Twitter, writing: “The hypocrisy of those trying to cancel Ted Cruz who have been totally silent on their Democrat Governor’s incompetence is telling.”

Around 8.6 million Texans were still facing water disruptions as of Monday night, CNN reported, citing Gary Rasp, media specialist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Rasp said more than 1,200 public water systems have been impacted and that systems that serve “just under” 120,000 people still aren’t working.

As of Tuesday morning, there were still more than 9,800 power outages in Texas, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.

This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 8:12 AM with the headline "Ted Cruz on leaked Cancun trip texts: ‘Here’s a suggestion, just don’t be a------s’."