Biden compares Ted Cruz to Nazi propagandist Goebbels for helping Trump spread the ‘big lie’ about electoral fraud

Updated at 4:30 pm with response from Cruz’s office.

WASHINGTON – In extraordinarily incisive comments on Friday, President-elect Joe Biden compared Senator Ted Cruz to Hitler’s master of propaganda in the way he publicized Donald Trump’s “big lie” about electoral fraud, although he did not blame him. for the pro-Trump riot on Capitol Hill, as many Texas Democrats did.

He called Cruz’s efforts “shameful”.

The Texas Republican led an effort in the Senate to block Congress’s certification of Biden’s victory at the Electoral College, insisting that widespread doubts about the election’s legitimacy required an emergency investigation to allay public concerns. The riot, which left a Capitol police officer and four others dead, delayed the review on Wednesday.

Biden noted that Cruz, like Trump, spent weeks questioning the legality and accuracy of the vote in half a dozen states, despite the total lack of evidence.

Asked whether Cruz should step down or Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who also led objections that delayed certification, Biden said: “They should be defeated the next time they run.”

“The American public has a very clear view of who they are. They are part of the big lie. The big lie, ”he told reporters in Wilmington, Del.

Cruz’s office issued a response: “This kind of rhetoric is disgusting, dishonest and bad for the country.

It was then that he invoked Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propagandist, recalling his exaggeration about the death of civilians in the bombing of Dresden, repeated by newspapers around the world. Goebbels claimed that the bigger the lie and the more it was repeated, the more likely it was to be believed.

Biden did not mention Adolf Hitler, whom Goebbels served, nor did he compare Trump to him.

“I was pleased to hear some of the most prominent Republicans tell me that the Ted Cruzes in the world are just as responsible in terms of people who believe the lies as – not as responsible, but equally responsible – Trump. But they didn’t say go to the Capitol, I’ll be with you, follow [as Trump did]. This is a different story, ”said Biden.

Conservative commentator George Will, among others, accused him of sedition and said he will carry a scarlet “S” for the rest of his public career.

Texas Democratic leaders, such as Julian Castro and his brother, Representative Joaquin Castro, of San Antonio, demanded Cruz’s resignation, as did Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Cruz attributed this conversation to his opponents’ political opportunism, making it clear that he will not follow his advice.

Some critics accused Cruz of inciting insurrection after the deadly Capitol riot.

“It is his attempt at selfish sedition that helped inspire these terrorists and his attempted coup,” said Beto O’Rourke, the El Paso Democrat who was close to toppling Cruz in 2018.

Cruz denounced the attack on the Capitol in real time as a “despicable act of terrorism” and repeatedly called for those involved to be prosecuted.

He defended his demand for an investigation into alleged irregularities in the election, saying Thursday that even in retrospect – knowing about the riot – he would still have sought an adjournment and objections to Congress that claimed Biden’s victory. To do otherwise, he said, would be tantamount to shirking his duty, and he expressed disappointment that his argument had not gained enough strength among colleagues.

“Yes. Certainly,” he told KXAS-TV (ch. 5). “I would object and I urge that we must follow the law and follow the Constitution.”

At the same time, with the end of Trump’s presidency, his power waning and calls for impeachment or removal through an amendment process 25, by which the vice president and the cabinet could declare him unfit, Cruz began to distance himself. in a way that he avoided doing for more than four years.

“I really think the president’s rhetoric and his language have gone too far,” said Cruz. “I think it was irresponsible. I think it was unwise … He obviously has some responsibility.