2022 Bum Steer of the Year Runner-up: Ted Cruz
The most relatable thing about Ted Cruz—perhaps the only relatable thing left about Ted Cruz—is that in 2016 his world was unmade and he’s had a pretty rough go of things ever since. But why does he have to take it out on us? That year, our state’s most famous Canadian, who began life as the smart, hardworking son of a middle-class family, saw his best-laid plans put to rest by his psychic opposite, an overgrown rich kid with, at best, middling grades who couldn’t even run a profitable casino. It seemed to take the fight out of Cruz: he went soft. Soft around the middle, which is no crime, and soft in spirit. He grew lounge-lizard facial hair and something akin to a mullet. The lean and hungry fighter who was willing to be hated and worked like hell to advance his master plan seemed content to spar listlessly on Twitter and, from time to time, have his photo taken with his former arch-nemesis.
In 2021 we saw Cruz’s old self return on one occasion, and it caused the country serious harm. Serving as the outgoing president’s lackey, a position he had sacrificed much, including his dignity, to obtain, he helped gin up anger in advance of the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. In his chronically insincere and cynical way, he stood that afternoon on the floor of the Senate and implied that he wasn’t stupid enough to think the election was rigged but that other people thought so. Therefore, he argued, the peaceful transfer of power should be put on hold.
Cruz was widely understood to be positioning himself for primacy in a post-Trump GOP, attempting to outflank Missouri senator Josh Hawley, who had initially led the campaign to overturn the election results. But this wasn’t just another stunt. The stakes were grave and the consequences dire. At least 138 police officers were injured that day; 15 of them were hospitalized, and 4 later took their own lives. The Capitol building was vandalized, offices were ransacked, and the country’s self-image and international reputation took a grievous blow.
But even that was less shameful than what would have happened if Cruz, in violation of the very Constitution that he frequently claims to value, had succeeded in helping an incumbent president who lost reelection stay in power. Bum Steers are normally judged on the basis of an entire year’s worth of bad behavior, but Cruz had earned one six days in.
Read more: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/2022-bum-steer-runner-up-ted-cruz/
It must be tough to be #2 Rafael.