Ted Cruz returned to Texas today, less than 24 hours after fleeing the state in the middle of an energy crisis for a vacation with his family in Mexico, after being eviscerated for making the trip instead of staying to help.
Cruz released a statement on Thursday afternoon, claiming that his family decided to make the trip after losing power in their home.
He said his daughters – 12-year-old Caroline and 10-year-old Catherine – had asked to take a trip with friends and that he escorted them to ‘be a good dad’.
Temperatures plummeted to as low as -2F in Texas this week and snow and ice has blanketed much of the state. It has been 85 F and sunny in Cancun all week by contrast.
His office would not answer questions about when specifically the trip was planned and why Cruz changed his flight on Thursday morning when contacted on Thursday afternoon.
The family are staying at The Ritz Carlton – where rooms are $400-a-night.
United Airlines sources say he was due to fly back on Saturday but that he changed his flight at 6am.
He also claimed on Monday – two days before the trip – that his family didn’t lose power or heat and that his children’s friends had come round for shelter.
‘This has been an infuriating week for Texans. Like millions of Texans, our family lost heat and power too. With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends.
‘Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon,’ he said.
Ted Cruz checks in for a flight at Cancun International Airport after a backlash over his Mexican family vacation
Cruz released statement on Thursday claiming he was just escorting his wife and daughters to Texas, that the trip was last minute and that they’d also lost power. United sources said he changed his flight at 6am on Thursday amid a swell of criticism
He was also carrying a large carry-on bag which suggested he planned to stay for longer than just one night.
Sources tell DailyMail.com that he lost power on Monday night.
Before flying on Wednesday, Cruz requested a police escort through Houston Airport on Wednesday before his flight to Cancun at around 4pm on Wednesday.
He was pictured at the United Airlines lounge, at the gate and on the plane before take-off.
He was also on the standby list for an upgrade to business class but didn’t get it.
His wife Heidi’s name wasn’t on the list for an upgrade.
Cruz pictured arriving on Thursday at Cancun Airport amid uproar over his planned vacation to Mexico in the middle of an energy crisis in Texas
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz speaks to the media at the Cancun International Airport before boarding his plane back to the U.S., in Cancun, Mexico February 18, 2021. He was wearing a Texas mask and spoke briefly to Telemundo, a local station, amid uproar over his planned vacation during the worst energy crisis Texas has ever seen
The family was planning on staying in a resort they’ve visited before, sources said, though it’s unclear which exactly.
Ted Cruz checks in for a flight at Cancun International Airport
Last year, they stayed at the Nizuc Resort & Spa in Cancun where rooms are $480-a-night.
Temperatures in Texas this week dropped as low as -2 F – the lowest they have been since 1903 – and snow and ice is blanketing the state. By contrast, it is 85 F and sunny all week.
Cruz was due to return on Saturday, but as criticism of the trip exploded on Thursday morning, with many furious Texans demanding to know why he hadn’t stayed behind to help in the crisis, he changed his plans.
He was on the list for a business class upgrade on one of the afternoon flights out of Cancun on Thursday afternoon.
To re-enter the US from a foreign country, all passengers must first test negative for COVID-19 by law. They’re then advised by the CDC to obtain a negative COVID test again, three to five days after they return, and quarantine for a full seven days after they return. Texas has no quarantine laws for entering from another country or state.
According to ABC, his office contacted the Houston Police Department staff at the airport and ‘requested assistance’ on Wednesday before his outbound flight. ‘HPD officers monitored his movements through the terminal,’ a spokesman for the force said.
The situation in Texas is so bad that people are being told to boil water before drinking to reduce any possible contaminants due to a failure in water pressure and plants.
Many can’t because they don’t have the power to do it.
Cruz said earlier this week that his home hadn’t lost power, and that he and his wife had welcomed in their children’s friends who weren’t as lucky.
‘Thankfully, my home, we didn’t lose power.
‘So right now we’ve got a bunch of the neighborhood kids all over playing with our girls, because their parents lost power and our house was lucky.
‘So we’ve got kids running up and down the stairs right now,’ he told radio host Joe Paglialuro on Monday.
He went on: ‘If you can stay home, don’t go out on the roads, don’t risk the ice…don’t risk it.
‘Keep your family safe, and just stay home and hug your kids.’
On top of outrage over Cruz’s trip, he was also mocked and compared to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who closed all of the state’s public beaches in 2017 during a government shutdown over a budget standoff, then took his family to the beach.
People have abandoned their frozen homes in Texas to seek warmth in shelters across the state.
On Thursday morning, the Mayor of Galveston said the ‘human suffering’ he was witnessing was ‘very concerning’ and that the situation was worse than any hurricane the state has experienced because it’s affecting the whole state and not just the coast.
Cruz was shown on the list of passengers waiting for an upgrade from coach to business on Wednesday night, under his given name Rafael Edward Cruz.
He was inundated with criticism from people who called him ‘morally bankrupt’.
An unnamed Republican source confirmed to FOX News that it was Cruz at the airport.
‘The photos speak for themselves,’ they said.
Ted Cruz is pictured on Wednesday afternoon at Houston Airport jetting to Cancun with his wife and kids on a United Airlines flight while more than 3million Texans were freezing in their homes without power. On Tuesday, he told people to stay at home and ‘hug their kids’and above all else, avoid driving or traveling in the dangerous conditions
Cruz is shown with his wife Heidi (right) and one of his two daughters (left)
Cruz narrowly missed out on a business class seat. He was on the list for an upgrade – his wife’s name wasn’t
Cruz in the United Airlines lounge at Houston airport on Wednesday before his flight
Cruz acknowledged the woeful failure of Texan officials in preventing the energy crisis in a tweet earlier this week. He mocked California’s power outages last summer
He had earlier been forced to admit he had ‘no defense’ after an August 2020 tweet mocking power outages in California resurfaced.
Cruz tweeted Wednesday: ‘I got no defense. A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good. Stay safe!’
He had said: ‘California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity.
‘Biden/Harris/AOC want to make CA’s failed energy policy the standard nationwide. Hope you don’t like air conditioning!’
After images of Cruz at the airport surfaced online Sawyer Hackett, senior advisor and communications for Mayor of San Antonio Julian Castro tweeted: ‘It appears in the middle of the worst energy crisis in the history of Texas, @tedcruz is on his way to Cancun with his family.’
Beto O’Rourke was among those who criticized him.
‘Cruz seems to believe there isn’t much for him to do in Texas for the millions of fellow Texans who remain without electricity/water and are literally freezing,’ he tweeted on Wednesday night.
Hackett later called for Cruz to ‘resign or be expelled immediately’.
Twitter user Elsa Ramon posted: ‘My 73-yo dad lives in Austin and is sleeping in full winter camping gear.
He sits in his running truck with the heater on during the day for warmth, @tedcruz.
‘Enjoy Cancun, you morally bankrupt piece of s***.’
National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Oravec had earlier said of Texas: ‘There’s really no letup to some of the misery people are feeling across that area.’
Pictures then emerged of Cruz waiting in line to check in his bags and boarding the flight to Mexico.
This week’s extreme weather has been blamed for the deaths of more than 30 people, some of whom perished while struggling to keep warm inside their homes.
In the Houston area, one family succumbed to carbon monoxide from car exhaust in their garage. Another family died while using a fireplace to keep warm.
The president of the Texas power grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said he hoped many customers would see at least partial service restored by later Wednesday or Thursday.
Problems first began with Winter Storm Uri – a brutal weather system that is sweeping the country. Every other state in the storm’s path has been able to withstand it because they operate on a shared power source which means that if one state’s supply goes down, it can draw from the shared reserve.
But furious Texans now want to know why the state’s infrastructure wasn’t properly prepared, especially after a similar storm in 2011 caused the same problems. The Texas Tribune reports that not all of the generators in the state were upgraded after 2011 to tackle the issue.
Jeff Dennis, managing director of Advanced Energy Economy, said: ‘Where did those recommendations go, and how were they implemented? Those are going to be some pretty key questions.’
The upgrades are what’s called ‘winterizing’ the energy system but experts say it is regularly put off because the changes are expensive. Texas’ deregulated energy market gives little financial incentives for operators to prepare for the rare bout of intensely cold weather, an issue critics have been pointing out for years.
On top of genuine outrage, there was plenty of ridicule of the Senator. Some compared him to NJ Gov Chris Christie who closed the state’s beaches in 2017 during a budget shutdown to then visit the beach with his family
Eric Bennis sits with his children inside a furniture store which opened as a shelter Wednesday in Houston; Millions in Texas still had no power after a historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge of demand for electricity
People wait in line to fill propane tanks Wednesday in Houston. Customers had to wait over an hour in the freezing rain to fill their tanks
Leonel Solis and Estefani Garcia use their car to heat their home in East Dallas area of Dallas on Wednesday. The couple, who lost power on Sunday, have been using electricity from a neighbor’s generator and heat from their car to stay warm
Water pressure has fallen across the state because lines have frozen, and many residents are leaving faucets dripping in hopes of preventing pipes from freezing, said Toby Baker, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged residents to shut off water to their homes, if possible, to prevent more busted pipes and preserve pressure in municipal systems.
Travel remains ill-advised in much of the United States, with roadways treacherous and thousands of flights canceled.
There are also delays to the COVID-19 vaccine distribution and many doses that were being stored are under threat because the freezers storing them can’t operate without power.
And there are also fears that without any new gas becoming available soon, prices are about to skyrocket by as much as 20 cents per gallon.
ERCOT officials still can’t say when power will be restored. ‘I know it’s frustrating we can’t offer a time certain, but it’s a process we’re engaged in to get the grid back in balance,’ ERCOT chief executive officer Bill Magness said during a news conference Tuesday.
Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, said the problem was a lack of weatherized power plants and a statewide energy market that doesn’t incentivize companies to generate electricity when demand is low.
In Texas, demand peaks in August, at the height of the state’s sweltering summers.
He rejected that the storm went beyond what ERCOT could have anticipated.
‘That’s nonsense. It’s not acceptable,’ Hirs said. ‘Every eight to 10 years we have really bad winters. This is not a surprise.’
Chris and Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Senator Cruz’s Cancun trip gets the meme treatment and is instantly compared to that Chris Christie beach trip
- Texas Senator Ted Cruz sparked a flurry of memes on Thursday after being caught on a trip to Cancun
- He was pictured flying to Mexico despite Texas being in crisis with 500,000 still without power
- Cruz was compared to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his trip to a private beach in 2017
- Senator Bernie Sanders and his famous inauguration mittens were also photoshopped in
- Cruz and his suitcase were doctored into historical images such as the moon landing and Tiananmen Square
- Cruz abandoned the trip on Thursday morning amid the backlash
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Texas Senator Ted Cruz sparked a flurry of memes on Thursday after being caught flying to Cancun for a Mexican vacation as his state is suffering through one of the worst winter storms and power outages in years.
The storm has caused a major energy crisis, after as many as 4.4million Texans were left without power thanks to a bungled response from its energy distributor. As of Thursday afternoon, 500,000 are stil without power as stores run out of food.
Yet Cruz was pictured with a suitcase and massive overnight bag at the United Airlines lounge, at the gate, and on the plane before his 4pm take-off on Wednesday, even as at least 21 deaths were reported and an emergency declared.
As well as drawing rage from Texas residents, many poked fun at Cruz as they used the pictures of him from the flight to create a wave of memes including one that compared the Senator to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his trip to a private beach.
In July 2017, Christie was criticized after he and his family were pictured on a beach that was closed to the public due to a statewide shutdown caused by a lawmakers’ failure to pass a budget.
The memes of Thursday added Cruz to the pictures of Christie and his family with one account quipping ‘The Shawshank reboot looks horrible’.
‘Chris and Ted’s Excellent Adventure in Cancun,’ another joked.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz sparked a flurry of memes on Thursday after being caught flying to Cancun as his state is suffering through one of the worst winter storms and power outages in years including one with Chris Christie and Bernie Sanders
‘Chris and Ted’s Excellent Adventure in Cancun,’ one Twitter user joked on Thursday
The Lincoln Project, which has targeted Cruz in weeks, joked he couldn’t spend time with friends after he abandoned the trip within less than 24 hours as they posted the image above of the senator on a beach full of minions
Other social media users decided to doctor Cruz into famous historical images such as the moon landing, sailing into Ellis Island, the Tiananmen Square, and at the Normandy landings, as pictured above
Another from user Anne Clayton joked of Cruz sending a postcard back from Mexico to his state, pictured
Cruz is seen standing in-between a man wearing a Trump hat and the rioter known as the Qanon Shaman
Yet more photoshopped Cruz into TV shows and movies, including Forrest Gump (pictured) and The Simpsons
‘My mama always told me that when the goin’ gets tough, you go to Cancun,’ wrote @JDCocchiarella alongside Cruz in the iconic picture of Gump sitting on a park bench. He was compared to two scenes in Forrest Gump by users
Cruz was compared to the 2015 movie vacation featuring Ed Helms. The senator is seen photoshopped here
Cruz was photoshopped into pictures of the Capitol riot. He is a Trump loyalist who backed his claims of election fraud
Some went a step further and combine Cancun Cruz with the other meme of 2021.
Cruz’ Vermont colleague, Senator Bernie Sanders, in his coat and mittens, that set social media alight on Inauguration Day was doctored into the Christie beach picture.
‘What the hell is Bernie Sanders doing in Cancun during a global pandemic?!’ the Twitter user asked.
Sanders was also photoshopped into a picture of Cruz drinking his coffee as he sat in the airport lounge.
‘History and Bernie have their eyes on you, Ted,’ joked Twitter user Jenny.
Cruz has since carried out a remarkable U-turn and announced on Thursday morning that he is flying back from Cancun less than 24 hours into his vacation.
He released a statement on Thursday afternoon, claiming that his family decided to make the trip after losing power in their home. He said his daughters had asked to take a trip with friends and that he escorted them to ‘be a good dad’.
The senator’s arrival in Cancun was compared the opening sequence of Jaws, pictured
A meme from @fohtohgirl pointed out the irony in Cruz, a major Trump loyalist, picking Mexico for his vacation. ‘Of all the places, you had to go to Mexico??’ it reads over an image of Trump on the White House lawn shouting at Cruz
Twitter user Greg Price compared Cruz to an episode on The Simpsons in which the mayor claims he has not left the city but is really filming with a backdrop while actually at the beach, as pictured above
Sanders was also photoshopped into a picture of Cruz drinking his coffee as he sat in the airport lounge.
Cruz was placed among the January 6 Capitol rioters with his suitcase and overnight bag
Some used this photoshopped image of Cruz strolling past a fire to compare to him abandoning Texas
Others compared Cruz’ sun vacation to the plight of Texans still battling through the snow
Another meme from the Lincoln Project, a Republican political action committee that has targeted Cruz in recent weeks, joked that the senator would not get to enjoy his break with his friends.
‘Doesn’t look like Ted is going to get to hang out with his friends after all. Sad,’ it wrote on Twitter, accompanied by an image of Cruz with his suitcase joining a beach full of minions.
Other social media users decided to doctor Cruz into famous historical images such as the moon landing, sailing into Ellis Island, the Tiananmen Square, and in an iconic picture of New York’s Grand Central station.
Cruz and his suitcase were also dropped into pictures of the Normandy landings.
Twitter user @BudGren9 went so far as to edit Cruz into one of the pictures from the pro-Trump riot on the US Capitol on January 6.
He is seen standing in-between a man wearing a Trump hat and the rioter known as the Qanon Shaman wearing Viking horns.
Some took a hit at Cruz after her claimed on Thursday that he only went to accompany his wife and daughters
Tweets and memes mocking Ted Cruz after he was caught flying to Cancun midst a global pandemic. Some versions of this image of him and Chris Christie on a private beach also included Sen. Bernie Sanders in his mittens
Cruz and his suitcase and massive overnight bag were photoshopped into the moon landing
He is also photoshopped into the bottom left of this iconic picture of New York’s Grand Central
Senator Ted Cruz was phtooshopped walking in front of the tank at Tiananmen Square
The Republican lawmaker was also doctored into the deck of a ship sailing into Ellis Island
Other popular memes included several that poked fun at Cruz having abandoned Texas when its residents are in need.
The famous distracted boyfriend meme was used to showed an appalled Texas looking on as Cruz is too busy watching Cancun.
Another from user Anne Clayton joked of Cruz sending a postcard back from Mexico to his state.
‘Wish you were here! Stay warm, Texas!’ it reads.
And another suggested that Cruz had texted former rival in the 2018 Texas Senate race, Beto Rourke, to ‘hold the fort’.
‘B******s caught me flying to Mexico,’ it states. ‘On my way home now.’
A meme from @fohtohgirl pointed out the irony in Cruz, a major Trump loyalist, picking Mexico for his vacation.
‘Of all the places, you had to go to Mexico??’ it reads over an image of Trump on the White House lawn shouting at Cruz.
The famous distracted boyfriend meme was used to showed an appalled Texas looking on as Cruz is watching Cancun
One user suggested that Cruz had texted former rival in the 2018 Texas Senate race, Beto Rourke, to ‘hold the fort
Social media usres joked that Cruz was u-turning and cutting his vacation short after being called out
Cruz was compared to yet another moment from movie Forrest Gump in a wave of memes on Thursday
Yet more photoshopped Cruz into TV shows and movies, including Forrest Gump, Jaws and The Simpsons.
‘My mama always told me that when the goin’ gets tough, you go to Cancun,’ wrote @JDCocchiarella alongside Cruz in the iconic picture of Gump sitting on a park bench.
Twitter user Greg Price compared Cruz to an episode on The Simpsons in which the mayor claims he has not left the city but is really filming with a backdrop while actually at the beach.
Cruz and his family had been planning on staying in a resort they’ve visited before, sources said, though it’s unclear which exactly.
Last year, they stayed at the Nizuc Resort & Spa in Cancun where rooms are $480-a-night.
But as criticism of the trip exploded on Thursday morning, with many furious Texans demanding to know why he hadn’t stayed behind to help in the crisis, he seemed to change his plans.
Shortly before lunchtime, anonymous sources close to the Republican Senator told The New York Times that he would be returning on Thursday. He was on the list for a business class upgrade on one of the afternoon flights out of Cancun on Thursday afternoon.
To re-enter the US from a foreign country, all passengers must first test negative for COVID-19 by law. They’re then advised by the CDC to obtain a negative COVID test again, three to five days after they return, and quarantine for a full seven days after they return.
Texas has no quarantine laws for entering from another country or state.
His vacation came as the situation in Texas is so bad that people are being told to boil water before drinking to reduce any possible contaminants due to a failure in water pressure and plants.
Many can’t because they don’t have the power to do it.
People have abandoned their frozen homes in Texas to seek warmth in shelters across the state.
On Thursday morning, the Mayor of Galveston said the ‘human suffering’ he was witnessing was ‘very concerning’ and that the situation was worse than any hurricane the state has experienced because it’s affecting the whole state and not just the coast.
Cruz said earlier this week that his home hadn’t lost power, and that he and his wife had welcomed in their children’s friends who weren’t as lucky.
Ted Cruz checks in for a flight at Cancun International Airport after a backlash over his Mexican family vacation
Cruz wore the Texas state flag on his mask as he checked in for his flight from Cancun on Thursday
The Republican politician came under fire after jetting to the warm holiday destination as hundreds of thousands of people in the lone star state suffered a loss of power. He is pictured above as he rturned home Thursday after the backlash