Touting new book, Ted Cruz has harsh words for Biden, media — everyone but Trump | Opinion
Sen. Ted Cruz might be the politician that a lot of Texans love to hate, but in an interview Monday promoting his book, Cruz put politicians, the media and even Hamas on blast.
Everyone but Donald Trump, of course.
Cruz can be an easy target to mock, but he had some clear takes on terrorism and bad ideas like Marxism. At a time when truth seems to be muffled and clarity obscured, the Texas Republican’s observations are mostly refreshing.
“[T]he last three years under Joe Biden have been an absolute train wreck,” he said on the “Megyn Kelly Show” podcast. “You know, most elections are decided on the classic question: ‘Are you better off now than you’ve been four than you were four years ago?’ And for virtually any voter in America that the answer is hell no.”
Sounding like an Everyman, Cruz went on. “[T]he economy is a mess. We’ve got record high inflation. The cost of putting food on your table has gone way up; the cost of paying your bills has gone way, way up. Rent, mortgages, like if you want to buy a new home, forget about it, you got an 8% mortgage instead of a 2% mortgage. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the cost of things like filling the tank on your truck.”
Americans are deeply worried about the economy, and if you’ve gotten groceries recently, you can feel the pinch in your bank account. Cruz might spend a lot of time in DC, but at least he’s in touch with how regular Texans feel about filling up their trucks.
Cruz shifted his ire to Biden’s predecessor, Barack Obama. Kelly noted that Obama in a recent interview said America shares some of the blame for the Hamas-Israel conflict. Cruz didn’t like that one bit.
“What utter and complete” [expletive] he said. Noting that Obama said he asked himself if he could have done more as president, Cruz added: “Here’s an idea. Don’t give $100 billion to the monsters who are committing these massacres. Barack Obama led the effort to flood cash into Iran.”
Harsh words, but is Cruz wrong? U.S. policies have certainly played a role in the current conflict and average citizens had nothing to do with those policies.
Eventually, Cruz took on the media, praising Trump for exposing media bias.
“When Trump became president, it shattered the brain of the corporate media,” Cruz said. “CNN is a garbage network. They don’t aspire to cover both sides. ... They’re not just advocates, and they’re not just Democrats. They are the left wing of the Democrat party.”
This isn’t a popular sentiment among, well, the media, but Cruz is echoing a sentiment from a lot of conservatives. They turned to networks such as Fox News because it seems like networks such as CNN failed to cover issues important to them, too. Right or wrong, only about 32% of American voters trust legacy media outlets.
Finally, Cruz took a minute to take down Marxism, a harmful ideology that today’s young people seem irrationally drawn to. He said he tells of his family’s history in his new book, “Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America.”
Cruz said his Cuban father has talked about the revolution there focusing “almost entirely of 14 and 15 year old boys who didn’t know any better. And Marxist always start with the children. This is true in Cuba and Venezuela and Russia and China. Everywhere you have Marxists in power, they start with the children because children and teenagers, they’re naive, they’re idealistic, they’re easily deceived. They have no life experience.”
As pro-Palestine marches have erupted on college campuses and young progressives have shown blatant antisemitism, Cruz’s observation about how people target naive, malleable youth with these ideas has never seemed more true. It’s sad to realize but important to acknowledge.
Cruz is an easy target among Texas Democrats, and even Republicans sometimes. And much has been made of a potential tough race with his leading Democratic opponent, Dallas Rep. Colin Allred. Interviews like this show not only a human side but also a politician who is as in touch with the real world as he is with what’s happening in DC.
Voters like that, even if it’s coming from Cruz.
This story was originally published November 8, 2023 at 7:33 AM.
