A slew of Texas newspapers are calling for Ted Cruz to resign after the attack on the 2020 election

A slew of Texas newspapers are calling for Ted Cruz to resign after the attack on the 2020 election
Gage Skidmore.
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The problem with a failed attempt to overthrow the government is those who attempted the insurrection are now being held accountable.

Such was the case with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), whose state newspapers came together over the weekend to demand, in unison, that he resign immediately.

The El Paso Times editorial board recalled Trump's accusation that the Texas Senator should be called "Lyin' Ted."

"Cruz is a known agitator," the paper said. "This time his actions contributed to an insurrection, a violent uprising against the United States government. Mixed in the angry mob were people calling for a revolution and overthrowing our democracy."

"With a Capitol police officer fighting for his life about four hours after the insurrection, Cruz again took up the fantasy about widespread voter fraud on the Senate floor," the piece went on. In his floor speech, Cruz never mentioned anything about Trump being behind the lie that there was voter fraud in the 2020 election. "Nobody likes a sore loser," the Times board said.

They argued that Cruz is smart enough to know that the lawsuits were never going to get anywhere, but he didn't care.

"We call on law enforcement officials to thoroughly explore Cruz's role in inciting the insurrection. We encourage businesses to reject Cruz's attempts to raise campaign money off the crisis at the Capitol. Finally, we ask that Congress police its own and vote to expel Cruz," the Times board also said.

The Houston Chronicle noted that Texas certainly doesn't have a shortage of politicians who "peddle wild conspiracy theories and reckless rhetoric" with the purpose of inciting violence.

"We reserve special condemnation for the perpetrators among them who are of sound mind and considerable intellect — those who should damn well know better," the editorial board wrote in the days following the insurrection attempt on the Capitol. "None more than U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz."

Blaming Cruz of spinning a web of deception, The Chronicle cited Cruz's claim that if Senators voted against the effort to overturn the election, they'd be telling millions of Trump voters they don't matter.

"Actually, senators who voted to certify the facts delivered the truth — something Americans haven't been getting from a political climber whose own insatiable hunger for power led him to ride Trump's bus to Crazy Town through 59 losing court challenges, past state counts and recounts and audits, and finally taking the wheel to drive it to the point of no return: trying to bully the U.S. Congress into rejecting tens of millions of lawfully cast votes in an election that even Trump's Department of Homeland Security called the most secure in American history," the Chronicle board said.

The consequences, as well as his motivations, became clear when thousands of Trump supporters rushed the Capitol. The senator has spent the past two months promoting the Trump strive to steal the election from 81 million Americans who supported President-elect Joe Biden.

When asked if he holds any responsibility, Cruz denied it to KHOU, "Not remotely. What I was doing and what the other members were doing is what we were elected to do, which is debating matters of great import in the chamber of the United States Senate."

Cruz has feigned sympathy in the past week as more deaths were announced from the attack.

"Well, senator, those terrorists wouldn't have been at the Capitol if you hadn't staged this absurd challenge to the 2020 results in the first place," the Chronicle explained to the senator. "You are unlikely to be prosecuted for inciting the riots, as Trump may yet be, and there is no election to hold you accountable until 2024. So, we call for another consequence, one with growing support across Texas: Resign."

The San Antonio Express-News joinedwith other papers in asking Cruz to resign for being a Trump "enabler."

Posting an editorial board column this week, The Express-News also called out the 17 elected Republican members of the U.S. Congress who objected to counting the electoral votes whose results they didn't like. But they also pointed out that Cruz didn't just make a floor speech, he worked to bring Republicans together to overthrow the election.

"It was Cruz who gathered support of other senators and senators-elect to object to the formal counting of electoral votes, not because there was voter fraud but because of the "unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities," said the editorial board.

They went on to cite Cruz who spoke to Democrats just before the mob attacked, "I understand your guy is winning right now."

"And it is Cruz who said only after the siege the 'president's rhetoric was irresponsible' and 'we are now in the process of a peaceful transition of power to the next administration, the Joe Biden presidency,'" the editorial said. "He could have said this long before. After an insurrection is too late."

There have also been petitions circulating demanding that Cruz be disbarred for his role in attempting to overthrow the election against the Constitution.

At the same time, Democratic senators are also calling for Hawley and Cruz to resign.

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke asked why Cruz was even allowed to attend the inauguration since he has spent the past several months denying the election.


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