After Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) shared a Russian propaganda video on Twitter this week and praised it, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) — who, unlike Cruz, is a veteran — publicly took him to task on the platform.
In Cruz’s original post, he whined that the military in the United States has supposedly become “woke” and “emasculated,” although it’s not as though there’s been any substantial winding down of the rate of U.S. defense spending. Just earlier this very year, the Senate approved a yearly defense spending bill providing $740 billion in funds — but sure, the U.S. military is “emasculated” since Ted “Poor Me” Cruz saw a video he didn’t like on Twitter. Great policymaking, Ted.
On Twitter, Duckworth commented as follows:
‘Perhaps a U.S. Senator shouldn’t suggest that the *Russian* military is better than the American military that protected him from an insurrection he helped foment?’
She also included a photo of women serving in the U.S. military and poignantly observed that “Perhaps [Cruz] should be thanking these badass women.” Check out Duckworth’s comments below:
Perhaps he should be thanking these badass women?
(📸: Bloomberg @business) pic.twitter.com/Y57SeoaYL4
— Tammy Duckworth (@TammyDuckworth) May 20, 2021
Cruz faced other criticism for his remarks. Ret. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman — who, besides his military service, has served as part of the National Security Council — also criticized the belligerent Texas Senator. Directly responding to Cruz’s self-important assertion that the U.S. military has become “emasculated,” Vindman commented as follows:
‘Because you served in the military so you know, right? The U.S. military is second to none. Please keep it out of your political theater. I hear there are actual problems Congress needs to address. BTW didn’t you swear to support and defend the US Constitution?’
Because you served in the military so you know, right? The U.S. military is second to none. Please keep it out of your political theater. I hear there are actual problems Congress needs to address. BTW didn’t you swear to support and defend the US Constitution? https://t.co/3vZPz7HDmw
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) May 20, 2021
Cruz directly helped incite the violence at the Capitol in January with his propagation of the utter lie that there was reason to be concerned about the overall security of the 2020 presidential election. In reality, no meaningful evidence of systematic security problems in the 2020 election cycle has ever emerged at any point, although Cruz has not subsequently walked back his past inflammatory rhetoric.
