Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has tried to justify his completely disastrous and tone-deaf Cancun getaway by saying he was just “trying to be a dad” and make his daughters happy. What he didn’t say, though, was that his college buddy reportedly came along. According to Axios, Cruz asked David Panton, his former roommate at Princeton and Harvard Law, to join on the family trip. Panton jumped at the chance, flew to Mexico, and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton even when Cruz skulked home after receiving a torrent of criticism. Panton, a private-equity investor, didn’t respond to questions from Axios. When Cruz cut his vacation short last week, he said: “Whether the decision to go was tone-deaf, look, it was obviously a mistake, and in hindsight I wouldn’t have done it. I was trying to be a dad.”