Ted Cruz Got Mopped Up During His Cringeworthy Attempt To Deny That ‘Racist’ Voter ID Laws Exist

If it’s not Lauren Boebert acting up these days for right-wing Congress, it’s Ted Cruz. The much maligned senator from Texas has received swift smackdowns from both Patton Oswalt and Ellen Barkin, but he’s still kicking, likely feeling emboldened by Texas lawmakers’ recent victory for an insane abortion ban. This week, though, Ted is reverting to being all fired up about the U.S.-Mexico border, and he also took some time to defend what he insists is not a “racist” voter ID law in Texas.

Cruz appears to be in denial of how Texas’ voter ID law, which is arguably the nation’s strictest example (requiring only certain forms of identification at the polls for most citizens), was declared by a federal appeals court to violate the Voting Rights Act. Via Mediaite, however, Ted decided to trap himself in a circular pattern while asking the following question — “Are voter I.D. laws racist?” — during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Oh boy.

Granted, Cruz knew that he was in enemy territory, given that he was speaking to Democratic witnesses, including law professor Franita Tolson, along with Asian Americans Advancing Justice President John Yang and Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund President Thomas Saenz. Cruz first asked Tolson, “In your judgment, are voter ID laws racist?” However, he wasn’t thrilled to wait for even two seconds for an answer (after she thanked him for the question) before interrupting her: “I want to move quickly. So it depends’ is your answer.” He added, “So what voter ID laws are racist?” Tolson responded, “Apologies, Mr. Cruz. Your state of Texas, perhaps.”

The Not-Zodiac Killer was not pleased. He moved onto Yang and Saenz and still didn’t receive a satisfactory answer while interrupting all of them. With Tolson, however, Cruz seemed particularly offended: “So you think the entire state of Texas is racist? What about requiring an ID to vote is racist?” Tolson maintained her cool to cite the federal case “that first resolved the constitutionality of Texas’ voter ID law.” Cruz, the interruption king, didn’t wouldn’t accept that he couldn’t receive his desired answer, but social media noticed.