Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has been one of former President Donald Trump’s biggest allies in Congress since the beginning of Trump’s presidency, signaled what appears to be a sudden shift in his allegiance.
According to the Washington Examiner, during a January 23 podcast, Cruz made clear in no uncertain terms that he believes Trump crossed the line with his post-election rhetoric in which he continually claimed that the 2020 election was “stolen” and “rigged,” with Cruz slamming the former president for not having any proof that it happened.
“President Trump’s rhetoric, I think, went way too far over the line,” Cruz said. “I think it was both reckless and irresponsible because he said repeatedly — and he said over and over again — he won by a landslide. There was massive fraud. It was all stolen everywhere. That evidence, the campaign did not prove that in any court. And to make a determination about an election, it has to be based on the evidence. And so simply saying the result you want, that’s not responsible, and you’ve never heard me use language like that.”
Cruz’s sudden change of heart is interesting, as it wasn’t long ago that he, along with 11 other Republican senators, called for Congress to form an “electoral commission” in order to launch a 10-day emergency audit that would focus on the battleground states where the widespread fraud was alleged to having taken place.
The Texas senator went on to explain his positioning and why he seemingly broke ranks with the president and millions of his supporters on the subject of potential election and ballot fraud.
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“What I’ve said is, voter fraud is real, and we need to examine the evidence and look at the actual facts. And, in particular, what is the evidence of how much voter fraud occurred, and did it occur in sufficient quantities and in sufficient states to alter the outcome of the election?” Cruz said. “That would have been the mandate of the election commission — to assess.”
Of course, Cruz isn’t technically wrong in some of those statements, as Trump’s lawyers and lawyers working on his behalf failed in dozens of attempts to prove widespread fraud in states like Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
But even in the face of extreme political pressure on the night of January 6 when Congress met to certify the election results in all 50 states, Cruz remained steadfast in his belief that the process needed to be investigated by voting against certifying the results of both Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Cruz, who very well could be a leading contender for the Republican nomination in 2024, might be putting out feelers to determine whether it’s more politically lucrative to remain in the MAGA camp or to follow some other Republicans away from the Trump-mania.
Only time will tell, but at some point, Cruz needs to clarify where he stands, because the only thing worse than someone breaking from the party is someone who continually flips and flops their position based on political expediency.
ARTICLE SOURCE: thefederalistpapers.org
