When the going gets tough, Ted Cruz gets going. Sometimes to Cancun. But if United isn’t running a super-saver deal, he’ll often just stay in Texas and flap his trap about any damn thought that enters his mind. And right now, in the midst of a surge that Austin-Travis County health authority Dr. Desmar Walkes called “critical,” Cruz appeared on Fox News to share his dangerous opinion that “there should be no mandates—zero—concerning COVID.” Unfortunately, he didn’t end there:
“That means no mask mandates, regardless of your vaccination status. That means no vaccine mandates. That means no vaccine passports. And I’ve introduced legislation — a bill to ban vaccine passports. This week I’m introducing a bill to ban vaccine mandates. And this week I’m introducing a bill to end mask mandates.”
Cruz did, however, want to make it clear that he’s got nothing against vaccines. He thinks they’re great. So great, in fact, that he and his family have gotten them. “But I believe in individual choice, individual responsibility. You can make the choice for your family.”
No mask mandates.
No vaccine mandates.
No vaccine passports.
No COVID mandates! pic.twitter.com/QpCNQof9PQ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 10, 2021
It’s worth noting that, according to Texas Tribune, “around 87.1 percent of all hospital beds in Texas are in use — the highest level since the start of the pandemic — with 14.1 percent of those beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.” Yet on Monday, Insider reports that Cruz and fellow senator Kevin Cramer (R—ND) introduced that previously mentioned No Mask Mandates Act, and Cruz issued a statement that serves as pretty clear proof that he’s not living in reality:
“Thanks to vaccinations and the natural immunity of Americans who have recovered from COVID-19, America is reopening. America is recovering, our kids are going back to school, and small businesses are returning as our nation’s economic heartbeat. At the same time, President Biden is imposing unscientific and burdensome mandates to control Americans’ lives.”
The messages that we’re all recovering and life is just dandy must not have made its way to Texas governor Greg Abbott who, according to the AP, “has directed the Texas Department of State Health Services to use staffing agencies to find additional medical staff from beyond the state’s borders as the delta wave began to overwhelm its present staffing resources. He also has sent a letter to the Texas Hospital Association to request that hospitals postpone all elective medical procedures voluntarily.” Yet he still hasn’t rescinded his ban on mask mandates.
Welcome to Texas, y’all!