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Senator Ted Cruz responded to online criticism in a tweet that reappeared on Tuesday night.
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In August, Texas senator Ted Cruz scoffed at California’s “failed energy policies” on Twitter.
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His post resurfaced on Tuesday, when more than 3 million Texans were left without electricity during a winter storm.
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Senator Ted Cruz gave a rare conciliatory tone after Twitter users criticized the Texas senator for a resurgence August Tweet in which he scoffed at California’s “failed energy policies” when millions of Texans were left without electricity due to a strong winter storm last weekend.
Many accused Cruz of being hypocritical for criticizing California’s energy infrastructure after the wildfires and extreme heat waves that plagued the West Coast last summer, when his own state’s infrastructure is also struggling to cope with the harsh climate.
“I have no defense”, Cruz tweeted Tuesday, following online reviews. “A blizzard hits Texas and our state is closed. It is not good.”
In August, Cruz responded to a message from the governor’s office asking Californians to turn off unnecessary lights and limit the use of appliances, saying the state was “unable to perform even basic civilization functions, such as having reliable electricity”.
He then accused President Joe Biden, Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vice President Kamala Harris of wanting to make “California’s failed energy policy the standard across the country.”
“I hope you don’t like air conditioning!” he tweeted last year.
Now, the Texas power grid has failed, as the state’s infrastructure is not equipped to handle large amounts of ice and snow and freezing temperatures. As of Tuesday night, more than 3 million Texans were without power, according to the outage tracking website PowerOutage.us.
Power outages and blackouts have affected designated heating centers and shelters. Two men were found dead this week in Texas; their deaths are believed to have been due to exposure to low temperatures.
Insider’s Charles Davis said on Tuesday that there are a number of reasons for the massive power outages in Texas, but the simplest explanation is that the extreme cold generated an unprecedented demand for heat, exceeding the state’s capacity to provide.
According to the Texas Electric Reliability Council, as the climate worsened, the ability to generate electricity has declined.
Despite Cruz’s concession, many were quick to point that the senator had not actually issued an apology to the Californians or politicians that he criticized in his original tweet. Some praised his honesty, while others urged the legislator to take legislative action to help the millions across the region affected by freezing temperatures.
“Stay safe!” he tweeted.
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