Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) attempted to brush off the controversy over his Cancun trip on Monday night, claiming he got bad press for leaving Texas high and dry because the media is “suffering from Trump withdrawal.”
Over the past few days, the Texas senator has found himself the target of a firestorm of criticism for his tone-deaf decision to flee to a tropical getaway as his home state struggled through a deadly winter storm that left millions without power, water, and heat. After quickly hustling back home on Thursday, Cruz proceeded to repeatedly blame the trip on his young daughters, claiming he was just trying to be a “good dad.”
While Cruz is still facing a widespread backlash, he has found a champion in Fox News host Sean Hannity, who has falsely framed the senator’s trip as nothing more than a “quick dropoff” and “escort” of his daughters. (Cruz was forced to admit that he was scheduled to stay through Sunday and only headed back earlier due to the controversy.)
Interviewing Cruz on Monday evening, Hannity once again painted Cruz as just a loving father trying to make sure his daughters made it to Cancun safely, all while wondering aloud why Cruz was taking so much heat from the media.
“You dropped off your daughters in Mexico, you came home in a day, probably less than a day,” Hannity declared. “And here you have a scandal with Governor Cuomo barely mentioned on these so-called other news networks.”
“You are like 24/7 because you dropped somebody off and came back home. I still think you could be a father and senator at the same time,” he added. “Where is the proportionality from the mob and the media?”
Cruz agreed with the pro-Trump Fox News star.
“I think the media is suffering from Trump withdrawal, where they’ve attacked Trump every day for four years,” he said. “They don’t know what to do, so they obsessed over my taking my girls to the beach.”
Moving right along, the Texas senator brought up his questioning of Merrick Garland during Monday’s Senate confirmation hearings, pointing out that he pressed the attorney general nominee on whether he’d investigate the Cuomo administration.