Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) found a new scapegoat for his ill-fated decision to flee the state in the middle of a major crisis in order to take a beach vacation. And, it’s a favorite target of conservative politicians: the media.
“I think the media is suffering from Trump withdrawal,” Cruz told Sean Hannity in a Fox News interview on Monday. “Where they’ve attacked Trump every day for four years, they don’t know what to do so they obsess over my taking my girls to the beach.”
Last week, Cruz ditched Texas for Cancun while his home state was crippled by a major snowstorm and power outages that exposed millions to freezing temperatures. When he was busted, Cruz sheepishly flew home and blamed his daughters for the trip, claiming he had only intended to drop them off and immediately return home.
Cruz later ’fessed up and admitted he intended to stay through the weekend for some fun in the sun while Texans back home coped with extreme cold and unsafe drinking water.
Hannity and Cruz both complained that the media was covering Cruz but ignoring New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home scandal.
“The media won’t even cover it,” Cruz said of the story that has received extensive coverage in state and national media:
In another awkward moment, Hannity falsely claimed that Cruz was just going to Cancun to drop off his daughters for a trip with friends and quickly return home.
“You dropped off your daughters in Mexico, you came home in a day, probably less than a day,” Hannity said. “I still think you can be a father and senator at the same time.”
That was Cruz’s initial claim, but he has since admitted it was a lie and that he intended to stay through the weekend. When Hannity delivered the same lie during an interview last week, Cruz corrected him. This time, he went along with it as he fully committed to his new blame-the-media strategy.
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