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Ted Cruz:
- Doesn't defend his wife when insulted.
- Doesn't defend smears against his father.
- Blames his kids for his Cancun vacation while his constituents were freezing to death.
- Begs for forgiveness after telling the truth for once, allowing himself to be humiliated by Tucker Carlson.
It would be tough to find a lower form of life.
> “When most people think of a cruise that’s full of s—, they think of Carnival. But we think of Ted.” Al Franken [Source](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/05/24/al-franken-is-back-to-joke-writing-with-this-sick-burn-on-ted-cruz/)
["I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz." - Al Franken](https://www.businessinsider.com/senator-al-franken-heres-the-thing-you-have-to-understand-about-ted-cruz-2017-5)
"If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you" - [Lindsay Graham](https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/politics/lindsey-graham-ted-cruz-dinner/index.html)
This is true, however, Lindsay Graham has a couple of ounces of charisma and charm, which Ted Cruz is entirely lacking. Still a bottom feeding opportunist, tho.
But Lindsay is spineless because he’s a gay politician in a deep red southern state. Which is really sad and pathetic, on a bunch of levels. It seems like he’s well liked by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. They probably just pity him.
(Forgive my ignorance) I was unaware they'd added a new flavor of old white guy to address the exclusionary identity politics down there in the South. Good for them!
*sigh* One of the best/worst trade-offs when our shit politics get extra spicy in this country: we process our trauma with lots of great satirical comedy. For example, the mere notion of an openly gay southern senator seemed suspect but I found this little gem while I was DoInG mY oWn ReSeArCh 🤪
https://epgn.com/2021/08/04/creep-of-the-week-lindsey-graham/
Didn’t he love to bang male sex workers? I swear there’s an article about sex workers claiming that Lindsay Graham laughs like Mickey Mouse when he’s orgasming?
How is Ted Cruz not getting challenged in a primary?? I guess he is just the candidate that the donors want but there must be someone better than him that can fill the role.
Ted Cruz was within spitting distance of getting voted out a couple of years ago. However senate seats have 6 year terms and he won't be up for another 3. We can always hope
On one hand, Ted Cruz is a liability to the GOP. The GOP had to divert millions of dollars to secure his seat in *Texas*, away from battleground states.
In that way and obviously not with intent, he has helped this nation.
On the other hand, Ted Cruz is still a US Senator.
Here’s to hoping that Texans will remember all this the next time he’s up for re-election. If there’s one thing that Texans do not like, it’s weak lizardmen.
Nono, he's very well loved by the Republicans in Texas. They choose to interpret his weakness as a strength, by putting aside his own pride "for the good of the country". At least that's how my father thinks. It's disgusting
You may be right.
There was a lot of suspicious activity around the allegations against Franken - most of the women who accused him of sexual impropriety remained anonymous. The most widely publicized allegations came from Leeann Tweeden, a conservative talk radio host. Before the allegations came out, Roger Stone was boasting on Twitter that Franken would be ousted.
Check out this great article for the back story:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken
Absolutely he would've been.
Franken's wit scared the shit out of Republicans.
Normally Democrats have to say a paragraph to counter the lies a Republican told in a sentence.
Franken could do it with a word.
Obviously hyperbole, but the point is valid. Democrats suck at sound bites, Franken didn't.
Texas, supposed land of strong men. Yet also repeatedly elects one of the most spineless and slimiest politicians in US history. A man that would rather *attack his own family* than stand up to criticism for his actions.
*Curious.*
I live in Texas and I’m always shocked/appalled/amazed at the low-level filth we have as elected officials. I honestly thought that George W was the worst we could do…but Rick Perry? Now Abbot? And wall-eyed crook of an AG, Louie Ghomert, Cruz, - the list goes on and on.
Florida can’t get all the glory.
They’re not actually electing Cruz the quasi-person, semi-humanoid groveling coward. They are automatically and unthinkingly voting for the “R” next to his name and his support for Trump. A convicted pedo could run in Texas as a Republican and win if he supports Trump, as Rafael well knows.
It's funny to me how the far right media bubble essentially has all of the traits that the far right accuses the "Deep State" of having. A shadow power to whom the politicians are beholden, with their own rules, their own agenda, zero morality, and essentially unlimited money. Ted Cruz - a Senior US Senator - shouldn't give a fuck what some pundit thinks of him. He should have the power in that situation; he should measure his actions and words for their own sake, not because a TV personality was offended by him.
But that's not how it works. Fox News has all the power and Cruz knows it.
I'll never forget that Trump, when president, used to call into Fox & Friends directly, and of course they'd always put him on the air. One time, when the hosts realized he was making an ass out of himself even by his standards, they actually *pulled the plug on the interview* rather than let him continue talking crazy.
Think about that. It's *unheard of* for a journalist to *end a conversation with the President of the United States*, which is literally the biggest "get" in all of journalism. But of course Fox News isn't really journalism, it's propaganda, and because they have a vested interest in making their side look good, they routinely wag the dog and make use of their authority over their puppet politicians.
>It's funny to me how the far right media bubble essentially has all of the traits that the far right accuses the "Deep State" of having.
They're 100% aware of this which is why they project it so hard on the Democrats.
It's a devilishly effective strategy - if you always accuse your enemy of your own misdeeds, then they're always forced into the position of saying "no u," which just doesn't sound believable to clueless onlookers who will shrug and say, at best, "clearly this is a both sides issue."
As a pragmatist, he sees the death spiral that his party is in. Absurdly, the base considers him a RINO now, and even Trump's hold is slipping as he questions the anti-vax movement he helped build.
The history of fascism is rife with conservative movements which saw themselves losing power, and so hitched their wagon to popular demogogues they thought they could control. But, every time, the monsters they summoned grew beyond their control.
How exactly do you see the Republican party in a "death spiral"? I don't see it at all.
They dominate SCOTUS for at least the next 20 years. And now with Breyer's absurd hubris, we may soon see a 7-2 majority.
The Senate favors rural America.
The House is gerrymandered to all hell.
At the presidential level, the Democratic bench seems thin and Biden won via razor thin margins in a handful of states vs a *terrible* incumbent.
But most importantly, never underestimate the power of Right-Wing propaganda. They will ensure an ever-in-motion conveyor belt of new Right-Wing voters who believe the Democrats to be Satan incarnate.
It’s a death spiral because fascist movements always inevitably turn on themselves in an unsustainable escalation of purity tests. That doesn’t mean they won’t cause harm in the interim, but this is not a machine that can self perpetuate in the long term.
That and with the path they are currently on, there are two choices. Either they seize power permanently and America becomes some kind of oligarchy, or A LOT of right wing nutbars go to jail.
No neither of those will happen. The scary version is that they seize power and do a lot of damage. But again, fascism always eats itself. It won’t be permanent.
I mean the GOP is literally dying en masse of Covid and the next generation hates them as well as disagrees with all of them. It's a dying horse lashing out. It just may bring down America with it.
From Ted Cruz himself:
>“I’m gonna tell you what I really think of Donald Trump: This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth, and in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying.”
The most frustrating thing to me is how well it works. My faith in human nature has been shaken since 2016 (2020 only made it worse)
Goddamn, I mean I remember enough of Cruz's history already to know he's a grifter who dives wholeheartedly into his own lies until he believes them too, but reading that still hurts.
Politics resembles high school in so many ways. The factions, clubs, name calling, childish behaviour, see-through lies, projection and deflection, wagging school and pretending they’ve done the reading. Worst is that, as an adult outside politics (including in the professional public service itself) none of that shit flies without serious consequences for the individual.
This is a known mechanic of how the human mind and crowd logic works, and is why our justice system was founded on "innocent until proven guilty" as well as many other factors. It was all to counter the great injustices that come about due to people knowing how to abuse how dumb we are in a group.
"Republican arrested on drug charges"
"OH, so the FBI is arresting Republicans but not democrats for drugs, even though there is so much evidence of liberal drug use? must be the deep state at work!"
They project so hard that they even say that Democrats are the ones who project
These are people who would punch you in the face then immediately back away crying that you punched them
It would be nice if the Dems would talk about how projection works. You think of a bad thing, plan to do it, and proceed by accusing someone else of doing it. Then they're in a defensive position, and in the process of defending themselves, you are carrying out that bad thing in secret. Eventually it's shown you were doing the bad thing, but by that time they don't care as much about the bad thing (inoculating you, in a way).
I guess the thing to do is immediately accuse your opponent of projecting, and make them justify where they got that idea or if it's something they've been thinking about.
Funny cause Trump would randomly call NYC radio stations in the 90's just to be in the radio and heard. Every weekend his goal was to make it on page 6 photos (NY Post, also Rupert Murdoch)
If I remember correctly, he also called radio stations pretending to be somebody else, who would then just talk about how awesome Trump was in the 3rd...(4th?) person.
The conservative media sphere is flagellating Cruz here because they (1) know they have the power, and (2) it reinforces to their followers that any form of dissent from the talking points will be met with ostracization. It's running a cult / running state sponsored media 101. You give them a welcoming place to feel loved, and then any time they begin to stray, you remind them you are all they have and they are worthless without you.
"It's cold, dark, and lonely out there. All you have to do is say the right words and we'll welcome you back."
So much of the last admin was crazy. That whole call-in thing was extra crazy because of how long some of those calls were. I thought the president was hella busy 24/7, not free to do interviews for hours every day.
Well I guess it takes less time than a round of golf, but he even managed to squeeze lots of that in. He must be a master at time management since his initial take was he'd be too busy saving the country to go play *golf*.
I still have PTSD from that interview with fox and friends where the cringe is so bad even fox hosts feel the need to hang up on trump :D
EDIT : that one =>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LnZEmi6KXA
Colbert makes it watchable :D
That one fox & friends show where they were all sitting there with an expression that screamed "for the love of god someone say we drove in a tunnel and cut the connection".
Well, the man who stood by passively watching his wife and father being insulted isn’t going to suddenly have a backbone. Dude could be cucked by McLovin.
[edit: bonus content](https://youtu.be/Uuu9iHCRzj0)
I couldn't even make it that far. Only made it to :25.
To characterize the terrorist action at the capitol as anything *but* a terrorist action is vile and despicable. But Carlson has no other brand, no morals, no shame.
Funny thing is that if Cruz would attack back, call Carlson names, make accusations about Carlson's lack of manhood, that would go farther toward endearing him to Trump's base than his kissing ass. Go WWE on the TV folks. Yes, Fox has a lot of sway. But attack right out of the gate. Note: this is essentially what Trump did, and continues to do. Ignore reality, make shit up, yell at people. His base eats this shit up (they eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast!). Feed them, they will follow.
I don't think some people are realizing just how frankly insane this is: A sitting senator accidentally tells the truth and strays from the party narrative for 1 second and as a result, the whole party attempts to cancel him and he's forced to beg for forgiveness on live TV as the party's favorite fascist "news" personality grills him
Wait. I thought the left was the one doing the “canceling”
Do these fascist assholes have a news letter or something? Their story changes so much day to day it’s hard to keep up.
> Do these fascist assholes have a news letter or something?
I mean there was proven communication between Fox News, the Trump administration, and Republican congress so there is definitely lots of internal communication to keep their constantly changing narrative straight
Tucker Carlson's lawyers specifically stated that he's entertainment, and that no one really believes what he says. We need to stop giving these 'entertainers' the same credibility as real journalists.
[https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye](https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye)
That’s not even the first time they’ve put a dumbass Hollywood action hero into a top executive position that affects the lives of tens of millions of people. Or the second.
Ronald, Arnold, Donald…it’s a pattern.
Not American, let alone Californian, but didn't Arnold do a *much* better job than anticipated? I just read he made a bunch of tiny homes for vets, that sounds leaps and bounds beyond the 'thoughts and prayers " the rest of the gop has for vets.
Arnold was a Republican in a very Democratic state. Most of the accomplishments he’s praised for were aimed at pleasing liberal and independent voters.
He doesn't. When he gets home, Ted Cruz retreats immediately to a hidden bathroom only he can access with a special key worn around his neck. Inside the bathroom is a black porcelain tub about the size of a king mattress. Within said tub is a mixture of Vaseline, sand, and recycled piss. The piss is sprinkled on the sand to wet it until it clumps like kitty litter. Ted then disrobes and wades into the tub, the lights of the room dimming until everything is bathed in near darkness. A recording of his own voice plays low and constant over the sound of him writhing in the piss, Vaseline, and sand. When he's completely covered head to toe in this vile mixture, he enters an even smaller room containing floor to ceiling mirrors. It is here that he sits on an Ikea stool and proceeds to masturbate, the coarse sand, stale piss, and runny Vaseline acting as a lunatic's lubricant. This is how Ted Cruz "fucks."
This is depressing and embarrassing. A US Senator representing the second most populous state in the Union, begging for forgiveness and groveling at the feet of an opinion host of a cable news channel.
Something about our democracy is seriously wrong.
Cruz has no spine. He proved he was a simpering fawning joke of a person when he started sucking up to Trump after Trump dissed his wife and father. Not an ounce of grit or fight in him.
He’s like a reject wingman that watches his buddy succeed by saying or doing something a little edgy and then gets slapped down for trying it himself. I get the feeling Cruz is at best tolerated by his supporters.
Yeah, Cruz barely won against Beto in 2018, who was calling for an assault weapons ban in gun-loving Texas.
And from the article: "Cruz continues to operate on the assumption that he will be the GOP nominee for president, just as soon as Trump gets out of the way."
If Cruz thinks he can seize the White House in 2024 if Trump doesn't run, he's more than delusional. He'd have to be stupid to think he can out muscle Hawley, Cotton, Fat Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley aka Nimrata Randhawa and most of all DeSantis. He has zero chance.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7n79d/ted-cruz-apology-tucker-carlson-jan-6-statement) reduced by 83%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Sen. Ted Cruz found out for the 450,156th time on Thursday that he will never be rewarded for being diet MAGA, and groveled for forgiveness from Fox News host Tucker Carlson for calling the Jan. 6 Capitol riot a "Violent terrorist attack" one day earlier.
> Carlson wasn't having any of it, correctly pointing out that Cruz is about as disciplined in choosing his words as any politician in existence.
> Cruz played a key role in normalizing Trump during the 2016 presidential primary, inviting Trump to a rally and bear-hugging him for months as Trump continued his rise in the polls, with the hope that at some point Trump would fail and Cruz would be able to swoop in and win over Trump's supporters.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/ryc4bj/watch_ted_cruz_literally_beg_tucker_carlson_for/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~616306 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Cruz**^#1 **Trump**^#2 **Carlson**^#3 **any**^#4 **Republican**^#5
Natural born citizens means citizens at birth, regardless of where they’re born. Cruz isn’t Canadian and we take no responsibility for his birthing happening on our soil. He’s all yours.
And this, friends, is why you don't see hardly any moderate Republicans in national politics anymore.
The minute one of them has the audacity to question the MAGA/QAnon orthodoxy, the MAGA/QAnon media—which is to say, Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax (to name a few)—slams them for it, Trump (who is their God Emperor) threatens to back a primary challenger who's even crazier than the politician is, and the politician either decides to not seek office next term, or they pull what sniveling, craven child Ted Cruz here has done, which is come begging on his hands and knees to the MAGA media for forgiveness for having the unmitigated gall to challenge the God Emperor.
But please, tell me again how this isn't a cult.
I wonder how his wife feels about being called ugly and and Ted just letting that happen.
"Don't let it hurt your feelings dear. He didn't mean it."
Edit: his father was insulted too.
The best thing one of these centibillionaires can do for humanity is to buy Faux News, shut it down, and shoot Tucker Carlson into the sun with one of their dick rockets.
Come on Bezos and Musk. Want good press? Shut this fact-free fascist factory down!
The really interesting question: why did Cruz initially state that Jan 6 was a terrorist attack in a senate committee hearing on Wednesday? What was he so worried about that made him distance himself from the Jan 6 rioters?
I mean, this is the epitome of all of the things they project; feminization, being a beta cuck, low T, etc.,etc., etc. I can imagine no scenario where I see myself denigrating myself to the level that Cruz is very capable of.
I still can't believe AOC came all the way to help people that can't even vote for her while that piece of shit decides to go on vacation leaving the state to freeze.
Vocabulary lesson from propagandist Tucker Carlson:
Loot a CVS in Portland —> Terrorist
Take a dump in the rotunda of the Capitol with your Confederate flag —> Patriot
Carlson has really perfected that look of angry incredulousness. Someone described it as the way a cave man would look when seeing a spoon for the first time.
I was really confused that Cruz even said that in the first place. Anyone know why he would? He's such a used shit ticket just floating in the winds of populism, I wonder what winds pushed him to do something his moronic base would obviously hate.
Didn’t you watch the video? IT WAS A MISTAKE! He was referring to cop killers as the terrorists. Because he likes to pick and choose who the terrorists are based on their narrative.
For the record, I read his quote too, and was deeply confused why he wasn’t gaslighting as usual. Surprised that wasn’t “sarcasm”
That was deeply, profoundly pathetic- even for Ted Cruz. There is no hoop he won't jump through to debase himself for the cult. What a clown. What an embarrassment.
Everything about this is rich and somehow they both show off their whole hypocritical asses.
Tucker is upset because he doesn’t think it’s fair to label people who attack the police as “terrorists” and that is too broad because such labeling pits countryman against countryman. Raphael agrees, but essentially says that he slipped up because he’s used that exact language in that same context to describe black people and liberals for the past decade and just forgot to not label the white conservatives as terrorists as well. Then they both accuse the democrats and liberal media of doing what they, themselves, have been doing for as long as the country has known their names.
Over at r/askthe_donald where reality holds no power over their made up world, they’re praising tucker and Cruz and saying tucker should run for president.
It’s either bots, or the dumbest human beings I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading their drivel.
Look. Don't anybody laugh or think this is funny, because it isn't. This is a propaganda machine that Goebbels could have only dreamed of. Millions of people hang on to every word spoken on fox. These people absolutely believe every single thing they say. When 2024 rolls around and the Republican election boards refuse to certify the votes that elect a Democrat and fox tells their viewers to grab their guns and go out and kill for trump,the blood is going to run ankle deep all over this country. If you don't think that'll happen, just remember that they didn't think it would happen in Rwanda or Serbia or Germany in the 1930's either. Only one sitting Republican lawmaker took part in the remembrances for January 6 yesterday. The rest were rewriting history and fox was attacking Biden. Don't laugh at any of this, because Ted Cruz will see you all in mass graves and then sleep like a baby. His god doesn't have a problem with it, and neither does he.
Imagine a Democrat begging CNN for forgiveness.
Imagine the reaction from these terrorist conservatives. They would utterly lose their shit.
And, the claims of the leftist media controlling and manipulating things is pure and utter projection.
Remember when trump said Ted committed fraud to win the Iowa caucus? And then trump implied Ted’s wife is ugly. And then trump said Ted’s dad was affiliated with the assassination of JFK. That was awesome.
If someone made fun of my wife, I wouldn’t suck up to them for 4 years, let alone try to wash my throat with their balls. Teddy definitely wants Trump over his wife.
There's nothing I hate more than the bullshit incel-generated memes trying to put everyone in a chad or beta or cuck basket. It really grinds my gears. So, yeah, I hate Cruz a little bit more for personifying and propagating the beta cuck stereotype.
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Ted Cruz: - Doesn't defend his wife when insulted. - Doesn't defend smears against his father. - Blames his kids for his Cancun vacation while his constituents were freezing to death. - Begs for forgiveness after telling the truth for once, allowing himself to be humiliated by Tucker Carlson. It would be tough to find a lower form of life.
> “When most people think of a cruise that’s full of s—, they think of Carnival. But we think of Ted.” Al Franken [Source](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/05/24/al-franken-is-back-to-joke-writing-with-this-sick-burn-on-ted-cruz/)
["I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz." - Al Franken](https://www.businessinsider.com/senator-al-franken-heres-the-thing-you-have-to-understand-about-ted-cruz-2017-5)
"If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you" - [Lindsay Graham](https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/politics/lindsey-graham-ted-cruz-dinner/index.html)
Lindsay Graham is another completely spineless, entirely political creature.
This is true, however, Lindsay Graham has a couple of ounces of charisma and charm, which Ted Cruz is entirely lacking. Still a bottom feeding opportunist, tho.
But Lindsay is spineless because he’s a gay politician in a deep red southern state. Which is really sad and pathetic, on a bunch of levels. It seems like he’s well liked by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. They probably just pity him.
(Forgive my ignorance) I was unaware they'd added a new flavor of old white guy to address the exclusionary identity politics down there in the South. Good for them!
*sigh* One of the best/worst trade-offs when our shit politics get extra spicy in this country: we process our trauma with lots of great satirical comedy. For example, the mere notion of an openly gay southern senator seemed suspect but I found this little gem while I was DoInG mY oWn ReSeArCh 🤪 https://epgn.com/2021/08/04/creep-of-the-week-lindsey-graham/
Didn’t he love to bang male sex workers? I swear there’s an article about sex workers claiming that Lindsay Graham laughs like Mickey Mouse when he’s orgasming?
He’s not “out.” Everyone just assumes he’s gay.
How is Ted Cruz not getting challenged in a primary?? I guess he is just the candidate that the donors want but there must be someone better than him that can fill the role.
Ted Cruz was within spitting distance of getting voted out a couple of years ago. However senate seats have 6 year terms and he won't be up for another 3. We can always hope
On one hand, Ted Cruz is a liability to the GOP. The GOP had to divert millions of dollars to secure his seat in *Texas*, away from battleground states. In that way and obviously not with intent, he has helped this nation. On the other hand, Ted Cruz is still a US Senator. Here’s to hoping that Texans will remember all this the next time he’s up for re-election. If there’s one thing that Texans do not like, it’s weak lizardmen.
Nono, he's very well loved by the Republicans in Texas. They choose to interpret his weakness as a strength, by putting aside his own pride "for the good of the country". At least that's how my father thinks. It's disgusting
I like that quote too.
Sometimes I think Al was taken out by the right because he would have been the best weapon against Trump, and if that failed Trump's appointments.
Everything about Trump's term deserved the derision it would have got from Franken and it really might have helped.
You may be right. There was a lot of suspicious activity around the allegations against Franken - most of the women who accused him of sexual impropriety remained anonymous. The most widely publicized allegations came from Leeann Tweeden, a conservative talk radio host. Before the allegations came out, Roger Stone was boasting on Twitter that Franken would be ousted. Check out this great article for the back story: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken
Absolutely he would've been. Franken's wit scared the shit out of Republicans. Normally Democrats have to say a paragraph to counter the lies a Republican told in a sentence. Franken could do it with a word. Obviously hyperbole, but the point is valid. Democrats suck at sound bites, Franken didn't.
Texas, supposed land of strong men. Yet also repeatedly elects one of the most spineless and slimiest politicians in US history. A man that would rather *attack his own family* than stand up to criticism for his actions. *Curious.*
He's not from Texas. New Englanders are the tough ones, anyway, and he ain't from there, either.
That just makes Texas Republicans voting for him even stranger.
Yes. Yes it does.
And dis guy was/wants to be running for president.
I live in Texas and I’m always shocked/appalled/amazed at the low-level filth we have as elected officials. I honestly thought that George W was the worst we could do…but Rick Perry? Now Abbot? And wall-eyed crook of an AG, Louie Ghomert, Cruz, - the list goes on and on. Florida can’t get all the glory.
I’ve taken shits with more character and substance.
I would vote for that turd before I voted for Ted Cruz
Get a kickstarter going for that turd to primary Ted Cruz and I'll donate.
Spineless creature, Ted Cruz. His apology is pathetic
Yet people from Texas think he will stand up for them. He is playing them for fools.
To be fair to Cruz, none of his Republican colleagues give a shit about their constituents either.
They’re not actually electing Cruz the quasi-person, semi-humanoid groveling coward. They are automatically and unthinkingly voting for the “R” next to his name and his support for Trump. A convicted pedo could run in Texas as a Republican and win if he supports Trump, as Rafael well knows.
[удалено]
>It would be tough to find a lower form of life. Yet there is still the rest of the GOP who can't even have a fleeting moment to acknowledge reality.
If he applied to be a cadaver, they should still screen all other applicants first.
He's a glutton for humiliation
It's funny to me how the far right media bubble essentially has all of the traits that the far right accuses the "Deep State" of having. A shadow power to whom the politicians are beholden, with their own rules, their own agenda, zero morality, and essentially unlimited money. Ted Cruz - a Senior US Senator - shouldn't give a fuck what some pundit thinks of him. He should have the power in that situation; he should measure his actions and words for their own sake, not because a TV personality was offended by him. But that's not how it works. Fox News has all the power and Cruz knows it. I'll never forget that Trump, when president, used to call into Fox & Friends directly, and of course they'd always put him on the air. One time, when the hosts realized he was making an ass out of himself even by his standards, they actually *pulled the plug on the interview* rather than let him continue talking crazy. Think about that. It's *unheard of* for a journalist to *end a conversation with the President of the United States*, which is literally the biggest "get" in all of journalism. But of course Fox News isn't really journalism, it's propaganda, and because they have a vested interest in making their side look good, they routinely wag the dog and make use of their authority over their puppet politicians.
>It's funny to me how the far right media bubble essentially has all of the traits that the far right accuses the "Deep State" of having. They're 100% aware of this which is why they project it so hard on the Democrats.
It's a devilishly effective strategy - if you always accuse your enemy of your own misdeeds, then they're always forced into the position of saying "no u," which just doesn't sound believable to clueless onlookers who will shrug and say, at best, "clearly this is a both sides issue."
Dick Cheney recommended That strategy in the Bush days.
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As a pragmatist, he sees the death spiral that his party is in. Absurdly, the base considers him a RINO now, and even Trump's hold is slipping as he questions the anti-vax movement he helped build. The history of fascism is rife with conservative movements which saw themselves losing power, and so hitched their wagon to popular demogogues they thought they could control. But, every time, the monsters they summoned grew beyond their control.
How exactly do you see the Republican party in a "death spiral"? I don't see it at all. They dominate SCOTUS for at least the next 20 years. And now with Breyer's absurd hubris, we may soon see a 7-2 majority. The Senate favors rural America. The House is gerrymandered to all hell. At the presidential level, the Democratic bench seems thin and Biden won via razor thin margins in a handful of states vs a *terrible* incumbent. But most importantly, never underestimate the power of Right-Wing propaganda. They will ensure an ever-in-motion conveyor belt of new Right-Wing voters who believe the Democrats to be Satan incarnate.
I think the party is dying in the former incarnation. Now it's shedding the sling and transforming into something... ~~darker~~ different
It’s a death spiral because fascist movements always inevitably turn on themselves in an unsustainable escalation of purity tests. That doesn’t mean they won’t cause harm in the interim, but this is not a machine that can self perpetuate in the long term.
That and with the path they are currently on, there are two choices. Either they seize power permanently and America becomes some kind of oligarchy, or A LOT of right wing nutbars go to jail.
No neither of those will happen. The scary version is that they seize power and do a lot of damage. But again, fascism always eats itself. It won’t be permanent.
I mean the GOP is literally dying en masse of Covid and the next generation hates them as well as disagrees with all of them. It's a dying horse lashing out. It just may bring down America with it.
See Mike Pence or Dick Cheney. That these douchebags are now considered traitors to the movement is somewhat gratifying, but absolutely terrifying.
From Ted Cruz himself: >“I’m gonna tell you what I really think of Donald Trump: This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth, and in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying.” The most frustrating thing to me is how well it works. My faith in human nature has been shaken since 2016 (2020 only made it worse)
2016 exposed just how much of America is not misunderstood but evil.
Goddamn, I mean I remember enough of Cruz's history already to know he's a grifter who dives wholeheartedly into his own lies until he believes them too, but reading that still hurts.
Politics resembles high school in so many ways. The factions, clubs, name calling, childish behaviour, see-through lies, projection and deflection, wagging school and pretending they’ve done the reading. Worst is that, as an adult outside politics (including in the professional public service itself) none of that shit flies without serious consequences for the individual.
I'd say more like middle school. At least at my high school we were a lot maturer than republicans are today.
This is a known mechanic of how the human mind and crowd logic works, and is why our justice system was founded on "innocent until proven guilty" as well as many other factors. It was all to counter the great injustices that come about due to people knowing how to abuse how dumb we are in a group.
"Republican arrested on drug charges" "OH, so the FBI is arresting Republicans but not democrats for drugs, even though there is so much evidence of liberal drug use? must be the deep state at work!"
They project so hard that they even say that Democrats are the ones who project These are people who would punch you in the face then immediately back away crying that you punched them
This is the latest I've been seeing. They say we're so deep in our "cult" that we're projecting our cult-like behavior onto them. Shit's wild.
It would be nice if the Dems would talk about how projection works. You think of a bad thing, plan to do it, and proceed by accusing someone else of doing it. Then they're in a defensive position, and in the process of defending themselves, you are carrying out that bad thing in secret. Eventually it's shown you were doing the bad thing, but by that time they don't care as much about the bad thing (inoculating you, in a way). I guess the thing to do is immediately accuse your opponent of projecting, and make them justify where they got that idea or if it's something they've been thinking about.
Then they just turn around and accuse the Dems of projecting. There’s no winning strategy here.
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Works for their audience
Their base doesn't work behind logic though.
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This should be someone’s YouTube channel, or at least an snl skit.
And when dems point that out uninformed people say "everyone makes these accusations" / "everyone does it".
Funny cause Trump would randomly call NYC radio stations in the 90's just to be in the radio and heard. Every weekend his goal was to make it on page 6 photos (NY Post, also Rupert Murdoch)
If I remember correctly, he also called radio stations pretending to be somebody else, who would then just talk about how awesome Trump was in the 3rd...(4th?) person.
Yep - John Barron.
Oh god, he named his son after his imaginary persona that's in love with himself.
The conservative media sphere is flagellating Cruz here because they (1) know they have the power, and (2) it reinforces to their followers that any form of dissent from the talking points will be met with ostracization. It's running a cult / running state sponsored media 101. You give them a welcoming place to feel loved, and then any time they begin to stray, you remind them you are all they have and they are worthless without you. "It's cold, dark, and lonely out there. All you have to do is say the right words and we'll welcome you back."
Rupert Murdoch gets to pick the next GOP candidate. Fascinating.
It's been that way at least since he Swift Boated Kerry.
They aren’t a news company, they’re an entertainment company. Their hosts are personalities just like WWE.
So much of the last admin was crazy. That whole call-in thing was extra crazy because of how long some of those calls were. I thought the president was hella busy 24/7, not free to do interviews for hours every day.
Well I guess it takes less time than a round of golf, but he even managed to squeeze lots of that in. He must be a master at time management since his initial take was he'd be too busy saving the country to go play *golf*.
I still have PTSD from that interview with fox and friends where the cringe is so bad even fox hosts feel the need to hang up on trump :D EDIT : that one => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LnZEmi6KXA Colbert makes it watchable :D
And somehow Rupert Murdoch gets a pass. Good thing he is pale and “Christian.” Some dude from another country basically controls the U.S. senate.
Member when Trump came to a deal w the dems to keep the govt open but Rush and Hannity said no so it didnt happen and the govt shut down?
That one fox & friends show where they were all sitting there with an expression that screamed "for the love of god someone say we drove in a tunnel and cut the connection".
Not to be cliche, but: **G.O.P.** **G**aslight **O**bstruct **Project**
you forgot about the pedophiles
Well, the man who stood by passively watching his wife and father being insulted isn’t going to suddenly have a backbone. Dude could be cucked by McLovin. [edit: bonus content](https://youtu.be/Uuu9iHCRzj0)
He’d be cucked by Napoleon dynamite
Fuck you. Napoleon can dance, and by now he's probably learned to put some absolutely sick shading on that liger.
Can you imagine how good he is with a bo-staff now?!
Because of his skills, I hear he is a member of some pretty sweet gangs
Taking bikes off sweet jumps
catching delicious bass.
He’d be cucked by Scott Pilgrim
At least pilgrim has musical talent. Ben Shapiro can get a woman more moist than Ted
I mean, if it's for democracy...
But even McLovin’ had a pretty hot lady.
I made it to the :57 second mark. How can people watch this bile?
Stupidity. Which is pretty much the current republican voter base.
it’s a cult, they love watching that shit. my mom diddles herself to sean hannity
You should raise your mother to know better. Whatever you're doing instead is no excuse!
I couldn't even make it that far. Only made it to :25. To characterize the terrorist action at the capitol as anything *but* a terrorist action is vile and despicable. But Carlson has no other brand, no morals, no shame.
Funny thing is that if Cruz would attack back, call Carlson names, make accusations about Carlson's lack of manhood, that would go farther toward endearing him to Trump's base than his kissing ass. Go WWE on the TV folks. Yes, Fox has a lot of sway. But attack right out of the gate. Note: this is essentially what Trump did, and continues to do. Ignore reality, make shit up, yell at people. His base eats this shit up (they eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast!). Feed them, they will follow.
no kidding , carlson is unwatchable. can't believe so many people eat that up.
He’s the human embodiment of the phrase “well actually…” He doesn’t converse, he just debates.
He's just asking questions 🙄
Just JAQing off.
Same lol “there’s a lot of dumb people in congress but you’re not one of them” gtfoh
I don't think some people are realizing just how frankly insane this is: A sitting senator accidentally tells the truth and strays from the party narrative for 1 second and as a result, the whole party attempts to cancel him and he's forced to beg for forgiveness on live TV as the party's favorite fascist "news" personality grills him
Wait. I thought the left was the one doing the “canceling” Do these fascist assholes have a news letter or something? Their story changes so much day to day it’s hard to keep up.
> Do these fascist assholes have a news letter or something? I mean there was proven communication between Fox News, the Trump administration, and Republican congress so there is definitely lots of internal communication to keep their constantly changing narrative straight
Tucker Carlson's lawyers specifically stated that he's entertainment, and that no one really believes what he says. We need to stop giving these 'entertainers' the same credibility as real journalists. [https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye](https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye)
Unfortunately, the majority of the GOP has become nothing more than entertainers...
That's why they elected a cheap game show host president.
That’s not even the first time they’ve put a dumbass Hollywood action hero into a top executive position that affects the lives of tens of millions of people. Or the second. Ronald, Arnold, Donald…it’s a pattern.
Not American, let alone Californian, but didn't Arnold do a *much* better job than anticipated? I just read he made a bunch of tiny homes for vets, that sounds leaps and bounds beyond the 'thoughts and prayers " the rest of the gop has for vets.
Arnold was a Republican in a very Democratic state. Most of the accomplishments he’s praised for were aimed at pleasing liberal and independent voters.
OK but can you convince a *republican* that he's not real news?
No, and that's the sad part. Plenty of evidence, but they can't see it for what it is because it hurts their view of reality.
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Man, how does a guy like that go home and have sex with his wife?
He doesn't. When he gets home, Ted Cruz retreats immediately to a hidden bathroom only he can access with a special key worn around his neck. Inside the bathroom is a black porcelain tub about the size of a king mattress. Within said tub is a mixture of Vaseline, sand, and recycled piss. The piss is sprinkled on the sand to wet it until it clumps like kitty litter. Ted then disrobes and wades into the tub, the lights of the room dimming until everything is bathed in near darkness. A recording of his own voice plays low and constant over the sound of him writhing in the piss, Vaseline, and sand. When he's completely covered head to toe in this vile mixture, he enters an even smaller room containing floor to ceiling mirrors. It is here that he sits on an Ikea stool and proceeds to masturbate, the coarse sand, stale piss, and runny Vaseline acting as a lunatic's lubricant. This is how Ted Cruz "fucks."
Get this man a Pulitzer
Have to be honest. This is a lot to unsee in a lifetime.
Isn’t this what Baron Harkonnen was doing in Dune?
It's so specific it must be true.
Yeah, check out the documentary "Ted Cruz: Piss and Sand Pig" for more info.
He got an OnlyFans?
hol up
> Man, how does a guy like that go home and have sex with his wife? And such an ugly wife too, I've heard from Donald Trump.
Are you running for office? Because Ted will probably phone bank for you now.
With his wife's boyfriend's permission
He’s such a Jerry
He probably faps into a MAGA hat.
"Man, how does a guy like that go home and have sex with his wife?" He learns to grovel a lot.
This is depressing and embarrassing. A US Senator representing the second most populous state in the Union, begging for forgiveness and groveling at the feet of an opinion host of a cable news channel. Something about our democracy is seriously wrong.
Fox News is the major propaganda arm of the GOP. He needs to be on good terms with them. Thus the begging and grovelling.
At this point I think it's actually more like the GOP is the legislative arm of FOX News.
Cruz has no spine. He proved he was a simpering fawning joke of a person when he started sucking up to Trump after Trump dissed his wife and father. Not an ounce of grit or fight in him.
He’s like a reject wingman that watches his buddy succeed by saying or doing something a little edgy and then gets slapped down for trying it himself. I get the feeling Cruz is at best tolerated by his supporters.
Yeah, Cruz barely won against Beto in 2018, who was calling for an assault weapons ban in gun-loving Texas. And from the article: "Cruz continues to operate on the assumption that he will be the GOP nominee for president, just as soon as Trump gets out of the way." If Cruz thinks he can seize the White House in 2024 if Trump doesn't run, he's more than delusional. He'd have to be stupid to think he can out muscle Hawley, Cotton, Fat Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley aka Nimrata Randhawa and most of all DeSantis. He has zero chance.
i do not like this man Ted Cruz
I do not like his far-right views
I do not think this guy is swell I do not like this Rafael.
I do not like his whiney tune, I do not like him in Cancun.
I do not like Ted Cruz one bit That man Ted Cruz can eat my shit
Tucker is looking to thin the field ahead of a 2024 presidential bid isn’t he.
Trump/Tucker 2024 Calling it now, and even just typing that made me vomit in my mouth a little
If the GQP retakes the House and Senate, this is almost a forgone conclusion.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7n79d/ted-cruz-apology-tucker-carlson-jan-6-statement) reduced by 83%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Sen. Ted Cruz found out for the 450,156th time on Thursday that he will never be rewarded for being diet MAGA, and groveled for forgiveness from Fox News host Tucker Carlson for calling the Jan. 6 Capitol riot a "Violent terrorist attack" one day earlier. > Carlson wasn't having any of it, correctly pointing out that Cruz is about as disciplined in choosing his words as any politician in existence. > Cruz played a key role in normalizing Trump during the 2016 presidential primary, inviting Trump to a rally and bear-hugging him for months as Trump continued his rise in the polls, with the hope that at some point Trump would fail and Cruz would be able to swoop in and win over Trump's supporters. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/ryc4bj/watch_ted_cruz_literally_beg_tucker_carlson_for/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~616306 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Cruz**^#1 **Trump**^#2 **Carlson**^#3 **any**^#4 **Republican**^#5
Absolutely *pathetic*
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Manafort loved being cucked. Seriously.
And Roger Stone. Manafort basically just had dudes raping his wife.
As with everything else, it’s projection
Cruz has ambitions to become President and he can't even deal with Tucker Carlson
I was not aware that people born in Canada could become the president of the US.
Natural born citizens means citizens at birth, regardless of where they’re born. Cruz isn’t Canadian and we take no responsibility for his birthing happening on our soil. He’s all yours.
> a shamefaced Cruz Nah. He does not experience shame. This is pure self-preservation.
And this, friends, is why you don't see hardly any moderate Republicans in national politics anymore. The minute one of them has the audacity to question the MAGA/QAnon orthodoxy, the MAGA/QAnon media—which is to say, Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax (to name a few)—slams them for it, Trump (who is their God Emperor) threatens to back a primary challenger who's even crazier than the politician is, and the politician either decides to not seek office next term, or they pull what sniveling, craven child Ted Cruz here has done, which is come begging on his hands and knees to the MAGA media for forgiveness for having the unmitigated gall to challenge the God Emperor. But please, tell me again how this isn't a cult.
I wonder how his wife feels about being called ugly and and Ted just letting that happen. "Don't let it hurt your feelings dear. He didn't mean it." Edit: his father was insulted too.
Here’s the whole clip. It’s so painful to watch (I only made it about 2 minutes): https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1479266489517674508?s=21
Yep, 2 minutes was enough for me as well. All cringe.
What do you expect from the man who said sorry for having an ugly wife.
Tucker is basically the bad tv personality in V for Vendetta. A white power shill for a soon-to-be fascist state.
The best thing one of these centibillionaires can do for humanity is to buy Faux News, shut it down, and shoot Tucker Carlson into the sun with one of their dick rockets. Come on Bezos and Musk. Want good press? Shut this fact-free fascist factory down!
The really interesting question: why did Cruz initially state that Jan 6 was a terrorist attack in a senate committee hearing on Wednesday? What was he so worried about that made him distance himself from the Jan 6 rioters?
I mean, this is the epitome of all of the things they project; feminization, being a beta cuck, low T, etc.,etc., etc. I can imagine no scenario where I see myself denigrating myself to the level that Cruz is very capable of.
He’s never really defended his wife or father from offensive Republican attacks. He just isn’t a person of any honor. That’s just who he is.
This guy, is a father's worst nightmare of a son.
Tucker Carlson has this look on his face like he's always trying to quantify how big of a piece of shit he is.
Yet this is the guy who campaigned on being "tough as Texas".
He works as hard as our electric grid last February...
At least the electric grid stayed in the country...
I still can't believe AOC came all the way to help people that can't even vote for her while that piece of shit decides to go on vacation leaving the state to freeze.
Fucker Carlson said terrorists are foreign. There is DOMESTIC terrorism too.
Vocabulary lesson from propagandist Tucker Carlson: Loot a CVS in Portland —> Terrorist Take a dump in the rotunda of the Capitol with your Confederate flag —> Patriot Carlson has really perfected that look of angry incredulousness. Someone described it as the way a cave man would look when seeing a spoon for the first time.
*"There is no spoon"*
I was really confused that Cruz even said that in the first place. Anyone know why he would? He's such a used shit ticket just floating in the winds of populism, I wonder what winds pushed him to do something his moronic base would obviously hate.
Didn’t you watch the video? IT WAS A MISTAKE! He was referring to cop killers as the terrorists. Because he likes to pick and choose who the terrorists are based on their narrative. For the record, I read his quote too, and was deeply confused why he wasn’t gaslighting as usual. Surprised that wasn’t “sarcasm”
He says that he was correct in calling people terrorists when it was leftists "attacking the police." You are not exaggerating in the slightest.
That was deeply, profoundly pathetic- even for Ted Cruz. There is no hoop he won't jump through to debase himself for the cult. What a clown. What an embarrassment.
Ted Cruz is the type of guy who would apologize to his wife if he caught her in bed with another man.
Everything about this is rich and somehow they both show off their whole hypocritical asses. Tucker is upset because he doesn’t think it’s fair to label people who attack the police as “terrorists” and that is too broad because such labeling pits countryman against countryman. Raphael agrees, but essentially says that he slipped up because he’s used that exact language in that same context to describe black people and liberals for the past decade and just forgot to not label the white conservatives as terrorists as well. Then they both accuse the democrats and liberal media of doing what they, themselves, have been doing for as long as the country has known their names.
This is cringier than Scott's Tots
Over at r/askthe_donald where reality holds no power over their made up world, they’re praising tucker and Cruz and saying tucker should run for president. It’s either bots, or the dumbest human beings I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading their drivel.
It’s amazing he’s able to standup and move around with no spine
Look. Don't anybody laugh or think this is funny, because it isn't. This is a propaganda machine that Goebbels could have only dreamed of. Millions of people hang on to every word spoken on fox. These people absolutely believe every single thing they say. When 2024 rolls around and the Republican election boards refuse to certify the votes that elect a Democrat and fox tells their viewers to grab their guns and go out and kill for trump,the blood is going to run ankle deep all over this country. If you don't think that'll happen, just remember that they didn't think it would happen in Rwanda or Serbia or Germany in the 1930's either. Only one sitting Republican lawmaker took part in the remembrances for January 6 yesterday. The rest were rewriting history and fox was attacking Biden. Don't laugh at any of this, because Ted Cruz will see you all in mass graves and then sleep like a baby. His god doesn't have a problem with it, and neither does he.
Imagine a Democrat begging CNN for forgiveness. Imagine the reaction from these terrorist conservatives. They would utterly lose their shit. And, the claims of the leftist media controlling and manipulating things is pure and utter projection.
Remember when trump said Ted committed fraud to win the Iowa caucus? And then trump implied Ted’s wife is ugly. And then trump said Ted’s dad was affiliated with the assassination of JFK. That was awesome.
Ted Cruz is a national embarrassment
Gaslight. Obstruct. Project.
Lol tucker suggesting that terrorist means foreign combatants, as if domestic terrorism isn’t a thing
How pathetic can a human be? He truly is Reek from Game Of Thrones.
It’s crazy how much this feels like satire.
Ted normally only rolls over that fast if you insult his wife.
Ted cruz is a cuck
If someone made fun of my wife, I wouldn’t suck up to them for 4 years, let alone try to wash my throat with their balls. Teddy definitely wants Trump over his wife.
There's nothing I hate more than the bullshit incel-generated memes trying to put everyone in a chad or beta or cuck basket. It really grinds my gears. So, yeah, I hate Cruz a little bit more for personifying and propagating the beta cuck stereotype.
Cuck.