Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) received sharp criticism on Monday for traveling abroad during yet another natural disaster to impact his home state.
Cruz was spotted in Athens, Greece, by tourists over the weekend, The Daily Beast reported. Cruz’s office confirmed the trip in a statement to The Daily Mail, calling it a “preplanned family vacation.” While he was away, a flood in central Texas killed more than 100 people. Rescue operations are ongoing.
This occurred four years after Cruz was spotted returning from a trip to Cancun, Mexico, as a winter storm crippled the state. Texas officials estimated that 246 people died across 77 of the state’s 254 counties.
The irony of the situation led many people to roast Cruz on social media.
“While 95+ people were dying in Texas, Ted Cruz was galavanting around Greece with no worries in the world. He’s a giant P.O.S who has now done this twice to Texans and they still keep voting for his ass,” reads a comment posted on X.
“When your state drowns and your senator flies 6,000 miles away, it’s not just negligence, it’s muscle memory. This man doesn’t serve Texas. He escapes it,” another post on X reads.
“I’d laugh. But 20 kids are dead,” reads a post on Bluesky.
“Ted Cruz claims it’s ‘not time for partisan finger-pointing’ about the Texas floods – but he sure didn’t hesitate to blame ‘leftist policies’ for the horrific California wildfires in January,” another Bluesky user posted. “We don’t need to tolerate constant MAGA hypocrisy about when its appropriate to ‘politicize’ tragedy.”
“What was Ted Cruz doing in Greece, don’t Republican lawmakers usually spend July 4th in Russia??” reads another post on X.