Ted Cruz Appeared To Fall Asleep During Biden’s State Of The Union, And Everyone Joked That He Must Be Dreaming Of Cancun

Joe Biden was tasked with giving the first non-bombastic, non-anxiety-inducing State of the Union speech in four years, and he succeeded with flying colors. He spoke quietly yet passionately. He talked up vaccinations. He talked about expanding education, giving federal money to pre-K schooling and community college. He uttered the words, “White supremacy is terrorism.” He praised America for rejecting the failed MAGA coup of Jan. 6 right off the bat. And he did it all in 71 minutes, without ever airing an epic list of grievances or shouting uncontrollably.

Throughout it all, Republicans kept schtum. Sometimes they applauded, but most of the time they sat in their seats and scowled through masks some of them may not have wanted to wear in the first place. One of them was Ted Cruz, one of the cheerleaders of the Jan. 6 tragedy. When the telecast cut to him, he was frozen and silent. But at one point his body must have rejected the inactivity, because it appeared he dozed off.

And so Cruz — one of the most dunkable lawmakers in Congress, on top of being one of its most dangerous — became the butt of a lot of social media jokes. Indeed, most had the same joke: That the man who battled a natural disaster in his congressional state of Texas by fleeing to warmer climes was just imagining himself in lovely Cancún.

Earlier in the day, Cruz tried to start some stuff with The Daily Show. They pelted him with a similar joke. So when they saw him snoozing, they drummed up another.

It’s a joke that will likely follow Cruz throughout his life. If he’s not going to be drummed out of Congress for his behavior on Jan. 6, he might as well be forever insulted.