Ted Cruz Gets Thoroughly Roasted By Mexico Ambassador To U.S.

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Esteban Moctezuma, the Mexican Ambassador to the United States, went after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in a publicly available letter this week after the Texas Senator spoke about what he called a “breakdown of the rule of law” in Mexico. As Moctezuma observed, the most recent Mexican federal elections were actually marked by all major contenders accepting the results of the process and moving on — unlike what has taken place in the United States, where Donald Trump has still not accepted the duly documented outcome of the last presidential election. After the election, Cruz helped lead the effort in Congress to block the certification of Biden’s victory, well after it had been systematically documented that the electoral process was legitimate. As Moctezuma put it to Cruz:

‘Furthermore, you spoke about a “breakdown of the rule of law.” I invite you to study what happened in our federal elections last June. All parties, with no exception, accepted the results and kept moving forward to strengthen our democracy and freedom of expression.’

Mexican President Andés Manuel López Obrador remarked that Cruz’s criticism “is to be expected” considering the differences of political opinion between the two leaders, adding: “If he praised me, I might start thinking we weren’t doing things right… But if he says we are wrong, well that for me is something to be proud of.” Cruz’s stated concern for what’s going on in Mexico obscures the concern-warranting facts of what’s going on right in the United States — including instances of political violence like the Capitol attack last year.

Where’s Cruz’s worry about the feelings on the part of hundreds and even thousands of individuals that they can essentially freely participate in an assault on the Capitol, putting police officers, government leaders, and others in serious danger? After referring to participants in the Capitol attack as terrorists, Cruz apologetically walked that back in an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox show, saying that the terrorist remark “was a mistake… and the reason is… we have now had a year of Democrats and the media twisting words and trying to say that all of us are terrorists. Trying to say you are a terrorist, I am a terrorist.” The Republican Party as a whole seems increasingly accepting of violence; party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said that a recent resolution referring to the targets of the House riot investigation as participants in “legitimate political discourse” wasn’t meant to refer to Capitol attackers, but that explanation suggests that party leaders are willing to pretend that the violence didn’t even take place — the resolution didn’t mention it. That prospect is also disturbing.