After spending the last five years groveling before a man who basically called his wife ugly on the internet, it seems as though Senator Ted Cruz is trying to earn back some of his self-respect by reassuming his rightful place as the most despised Republican in Washington. Given that it has only been a day since Donald Trump was dethroned, the junior senator from Texas is already making impressive headway—albeit by copying and pasting from his party’s now former god-emperor. “By rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, President Biden indicates he’s more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh,” Cruz tweeted on Wednesday in response to Joe Biden reversing Trump’s decision to pull out of the deal. “This agreement will do little to affect the climate and will harm the livelihoods of Americans.”
It’s unclear if Cruz actually believes that the international climate pact will only help the city it was ratified in—its name was derived from a 2015 meeting in Paris during which the vast majority of the world’s countries adopted a series of climate-related goals—or if he’s simply pandering to the “America First” masses by stealing the remarks Trump made in 2017 after withdrawing from the deal. (“I was elected by voters of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” Trump said at the time. “I promised I would exit or renegotiate any deal which fails to serve U.S. interests.” To which the mayor of Pittsburgh, a Democrat, promptly replied along the lines of, my constituents would rather save the planet from certain destruction. “I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future,” he wrote in a tweet. But, moving on.) Either way, Cruz’s tweet is only one of the ways in which he has recently distinguished himself, another being his objection to the certification of Biden’s election, even after a violent mob of Trump supporters laid siege to his place of work.
Given Cruz’s seeming determination to claim the mantle Trump has vacated, it only makes sense that Trump’s erstwhile political opponents have set their sights on him too. Rick Wilson, the cofounder of the anti-Trump PAC the Lincoln Project, is now hinting that, with Trump out of the picture, his group will go after the Texas senator next, along with other lawmakers who contributed to the “stolen election” conspiracy. “Ted is just one of the members of the sedition caucus,” Wilson said on the Texas political podcast Y’all-itics this week. “[He] chose to continue to inflame a violent conspiracy theory, so we hold them responsible for helping to inflame that language, perpetuate that conspiracy theory, inflame that crowd. Donald Trump may have struck the match, but they poured gas all over the countryside.”
Wilson went on to say that Cruz “went so far over the edge, not just to appease Donald Trump and Trump’s base, but because he felt like [Missouri Senator] Josh Hawley had gotten out ahead of him on it.” The Lincoln Project, which is known for its TV attack ads—including a series that reportedly helped nudge Trump into turning on Mike Pence—targeted Cruz earlier this month in a video calling out “the new Jim Crow caucus,” referencing the GOP lawmakers who took Trump’s voter-fraud delusions to Congress. “They are trying to throw out millions of Black voters,” the ad said, naming lawmakers Ron Johnson, Kevin McCarthy, Hawley, and Cruz.
If Wilson and his cofounders are looking for ad fodder, there’s no shortage of material in the Pittsburgh tweet, which was roundly mocked. “So happy that USA has finally rejoined the Pittsburgh Agreement. Welcome back!” wrote climate activist Greta Thunberg. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked, “Quick question: do you also believe the Geneva Convention was about the views of the citizens of Geneva?” CNN’s Jake Tapper used the opportunity to bring up Cruz’s failed attempt to “disenfranchise the entire commonwealth of Pennsylvania based on lies and conspiracy theories” by insisting on Trump’s election win. (It seems Cruz may still be in denial, given that he showed up to Biden’s inauguration wearing a mask inscribed with “Come and Take It.”)
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