UNITED STATES: Amid the storm crisis that has millions in Texas without power, Texas Senator Ted Cruz flew to Mexico with his family for a holiday. Texas has been facing power and water outages due to the uncommonly stormy weather.
The high-profile Republican has received a massive amount of criticism for taking an international trip amid the weather emergency in his state.
With #FlyingTed, #CancunCruz and #TedFled trends, netizens took social media by storm lambasting the Senator for holidaying while the people deal with electricity outages and water shortage amid freezing cold.
Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said, “People in Texas are literally freezing to death and yet Ted Cruz went on vacation to Cancun.” Some criticized Cruz for appearing to use his daughters to deflect blame. On Thursday, Cruz said that he planned the trip for his daughters as he wanted to be a ”good dad”.
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In a written statement, Cruz said that with schools shut in the state, he had booked the vacation for his young daughters who “asked to take a trip with friends”. In his defense, the senator said that he and his staff were coordinating with state and local leaders to get to the bottom of what happened in Texas.
In an interview with broadcaster ABC13, he said it that the trip was a “mistake”. In a bizarre statement, Cruz said that had he understood how his trip would be perceived and how people would react, he obviously wouldn’t have done it, adding that he had “second thoughts” when he left and understood why people were “upset” about it.
According to the reports, millions of Texans woke up to a fourth day without power, after extreme winter weather overwhelmed the state’s energy grid. With at least 24 people dead amid the freezing cold, outages are expected to prolong for days. Texas officials have also ordered people of the state to boil tap water before consuming it owing to damaged infrastructure and pipes. Due to sustained frigid temperatures, frozen pipes have caused a drop in water pressure in homes and hospitals.
