Sen. Ted Cruz jokes about his infamous trip to Cancún as another Texas freeze approaches
- Sen. Ted Cruz joked about his infamous trip to Cancún in a tweet on inflation.
- The Texas senator and his family traveled to Mexico during a devastating winter ice storm in 2021.
Sen. Ted Cruz made himself the punchline of the joke about his infamous 2021 trip to Cancún during a severe storm as Texas braces for another winter freeze.
Cruz skipped town and traveled to Mexico in February 2021 as a devastating winter storm hit the state of Texas, which runs its own power grid covering most of the state and is more vulnerable to disruptions. The Texas senator referenced the trip in a Wednesday tweet about inflation, joking that prices for tickets to Cancún are "up 32%."
The 2021 winter storm hit a state whose infrastructure was woefully underprepared for such a blast, knocking out much of the state's power grid and leaving thousands in the cold with no working heat or power. In total, nearly 250 Texans died as a result of the severe weather.
Cruz took his family to the five-star Ritz-Carlton resort in Cancún while the Senate was on recess, but cut his trip short after immense backlash for leaving the state during a time of crisis.
"This has been an infuriating week for Texas," Cruz said in a statement at the time. "With school cancelled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon."
Cruz apologized for the trip shortly after landing back in the US.
"It was obviously a mistake and in hindsight I wouldn't have done it," Cruz told reporters who, along with protesters, were waiting for him at his Houston home.
Now, a large swath of the country, including Texas, is preparing to get hit by winter storm Landon, which could blanket many areas with heavy snow and ice. Gov. Greg Abbott warned Texans that the storm could cause power outages and other disruptions.
"No one can guarantee that there won't be a 'low shed event.' But what we will work and strive to achieve, and what we're prepared to achieve, is that the power is gonna stay on across the entire state," Abbott said on Tuesday.