Ted Cruz is still facing a ton of
criticism over his decision to be
a good dad by going to Cancun while
millions of his
constituents go without power or
food or drinkable water.
His explanation has evolved a bit.
Let's take a look at
one of the most recent forms.
>> Whether the decision
to go was tone-deaf, look,
it was obviously a mistake and in
hindsight, I wouldn't have done it.
I was trying to be a dad.
And all of us have made decisions,
when you got two girls who have
been cold for two days and
haven't had heater power and
they're saying, hey, look,
we don't have school.
Why don't we go,
let's get out of here.
>> Yeah they're freezing,
dad save us, take us to the most
convenient place down Cancun way.
But anyway, as I talked about on
the damage report this morning,
I hate the little shrugs and
a little like it's so affected.
It's so
on purpose and performative,
his attempt to be folksy.
And it just doesn't sell
especially when he is trying
to defend the indefensible.
What do you think? >> Yeah.
So John, I kind of like the shrugs
because he looks weak doing it.
He looks like a beta.
And so, well,
you could tell when he's lying.
Well first of all, when his mouth
opens, but second [LAUGH] of all,
what he's defensive about is lying
when he does, like, he moves his
head, he moves his shoulders a lot,
and it looks weak and defensive.
Here's how Trump would have
handled this.
I would go to Cancun because only
suckers and
losers stay in the cold.
I'm a very stable genius,
stable geniuses go to Cancun.
I could afford it because I'm
really rich,
unlike those suckers in Texas.
And everybody in Texas
who is a Republican would be like,
yes, what a genius that guy is.
So in a sense politically,
Ted Cruz has made a mistake here by
admitting a mistake.
Now, I see people still looking for
a pound of flesh and saying, no,
he needs to formally apologize.
Now, that wasn't an apology.
Let's keep it real.
I'm a progressive,
I despise Ted Cruz.
Now okay, we'll get you, no,
we'll have a conversation about it.
We'll have a conversation, okay?
[LAUGH] But
my favorite excuse was my kids,
my daughters who are a little cold,
so we decided we just gotta go to
Ritz-Carlton at Cancun.
[LAUGH] Wow, that must be nice.
[LAUGH] So by the way,
your daughters may be had to go
to the Ritz-Carlton at Cancun.
You didn't have to go.
So that's a totally different
situation.
All right Kenya, what do you think?
>> I mean, I'm just
imagining growing up in Wisconsin,
just the number of countries.
I would have almost automatic dual
citizenship with every time we got
to leave on account of a snowstorm.
I don't think we would actually
live [LAUGH] in the state.
But can you imagine I think it
speaks to something
as your tenure as a congressman,
your validity as a politician and
then just your overall humanity.
When you're looking at,
when someone can go online and
see what a POS trending and
immediately think to themselves,
my gosh, what did Senator Ted Cruz
[LAUGH] do now, without even having
to know much of the story?
But I mean, with all seriousness,
we're talking about a pretty
serious situation here where you
have folks where going out days,
weeks without power,
without electricity or
without keys, without food.
And for that, it just sends
the wrong message and just as much
as it sends a wrong message to head
off to Cancun at a time when your
constituents are suffering.
It looks equally pathetic for
you to then be cowering and
finally acknowledging the state you
[LAUGH] abandoned by wearing
the state flag and sheer mass
as you tried to tiptoe back.
It just wasn't all around
that look.
>> Yeah Cenk,
I think look, very few politician
apologies are very good.
So I think that the bar is set
pretty low.
If you even approach it, you're
going to be better than most, but
I don't think it can be an apology
if you do the apology.
And then you lie about why you had
to do the thing you're
apologizing for.
I don't think it can be
an apology if you apologize.
And then you attack the media
is trying to spin it into something
negative.
When it's obviously negative,
it has to be negative or
you wouldn't be apologizing for it.
So if you apologize and
then make excuses and lie and
try to turn people to be mad at
the media, or your daughters or
whatever, it's not an apology.
It's certainly not a good apology.
>> No, of course [LAUGH] right.
So look, the core of the lie is not
just Ted Cruz is shared by every
Republican in Texas,
let alone the rest of the country.
And I want to say this every time
we talk about the story,
you must understand that it was
because of the deregulation of
the energy companies.
They chose not to insulate their
pipes and
that's what caused the debacle.
And it could have been mitigated
if they were part of federal
energy grid, but
they chose not to be, why?
Because of both conservative
ideology and crony capitalism and
corruption.
And so they got paid by those
fossil fuel companies.
And so the real apology would be
Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, Rick Perry,
George W Bush, all of them coming
out and doing a press conference
together and saying, we were wrong.
We thought not being connected to
the rest of the country
was a good idea.
But it turns out we needed
the rest of you and we're so sorry.
Because now we're asking for
federal assistance.
And it turns out,
we didn't need you.
And secondly, we deregulated these
energy companies.
Because they give us
campaign contributions, what you
colloquially called bribes.
And so a lot of you died because of
that.
We're so sorry.
That would be the proper apology,
but of course,
we're not going to get that.
And all I'm saying John is that
politically, when he does the shrug
and saying, I had to take my
daughters to Ritz-Carlton, right.
And he says it was a mistake.
That actually politically
in Republican circles is a mistake
because Republicans like dumb lying
alpha dogs.
So when he admits it's a mistake,
they actually have less
respect for.
>> Well,
I would say especially when
the excuse they come up with is
going to evaporate in the next day.
When probably the friends who
were going with you to
Cancun leak the original chat
conversations that led to the trip.
And prove that you needing to go as
a chaperone and
you needing to go because your
daughter's came up with a trip.
Neither of those are actually true.
So we found out that group text
messages sent by Heidi Cruz,
the senators wife, show that
the family's Cancun controversial
getaway was a last minute decision,
one that came after she invited
other friends in what was
an attempt on her part to flee
the Cruz's freezing home.
She wrote, anyone can or
want to leave for the week?
We may go to Cancun.
The senator's wife also pitched
a direct flight and
hotels with capacity, seriously and
talked about how it was only
a little bit more than $300 a night
and has very good security.
So apparently, it was her idea.
And she was going which
provides a parental chaperone,
if you need one.
So his excuse, as I
said the day before this morning,
I admire Ted Cruz for finally not
throwing his wife under the bus.
But his excuses just aren't true
based on what has now been leaked.
>> Yeah, little on snowflake.
>> You want to see snowflake?
So what is the snowflake that Cenk
is referring to there is his dog,
journalist Michael Hardy tweeted
this, just drove by Ted Cruz's
house in Houston.
His lights are off but
a neighbor told me the block
of its power back last night.
Also Ted appears to have
left behind the family poodle.
Which is happy because now there
is power.
By the way,
if you look at that picture,
if you zoom in, [LAUGH] snowflake's
like, where did they all go?
It was freezing last night [LAUGH].
Apparently, there
was a security guard but
it was basically abandoned.
How could this happen to me?
[LAUGH] >> It looks
like Ted Cruz was trying to do
a reboot of all dogs go to heaven.
[LAUGH] >> When the power came
back on.
>> Yeah, look, can you my sense is
that you can be vicious to human
beings in this country and
totally get away with it,
especially if you're a Republican.
But if you mess with a dog,
okay, black, white, liberal,
conservative, it doesn't matter,
people will get very emotional.
So when I saw snowflake trending
on Twitter, I thought it was
just a reference to Ted Cruz.
[LAUGH] But
it turns out it's his dog.
And it is the kind of thing [LAUGH]
that people will not like,
even Republicans like dogs.
So [LAUGH] this might be another
layer of Ted Cruz's mistake.
So overall Kenya,
thoughts on how much lasting damage
does this do to Ted Cruz,
is it going to leave a mark?
>> I mean, I think we've seen just
in the last several weeks the
depths of which Ted Cruz is willing
to go to look out for Ted Cruz.
Which is honestly pretty surprising
than when you would miss a clear
self aggrandizing opportunity to
just promote yourself.
Even if for no other reason than to
finally look like a senator capable
of getting actionable work done for
your constituents.
Even in the terms of photo ops and
opportunities to be in the state
talking with people, talking with
your own people who voted for you
to at least appear to be working.
But I mean,
I think this as we're seeing,
there are calls for him to resign.
I think we're seeing him take
the Donald Trump approach now which
is to assume being a victim here.
And even as we saw in the last
several weeks, I mean we watched
two Senators who ultimately,
on account of this action,
lost their seats.
But we saw two Senators even during
the coronavirus pandemic,
two Georgia Senators, prompted off
of the sale of medical equipment or
stock sales related to medical
supplies and vaccine distributions.
So, it doesn't surprise me
the depths to which Republicans
are willing to not only profit off
of the pain and
suffering of American citizens.
But then just turn a blind eye to
it by essentially hopping to
another country seeking a better
life or better opportunity for
their children.