Ted Cruz Dared People To Come For His Turkey, Instead Twitter Came For Him

Just when you think Ted Cruz — one of perhaps the most universally mocked Senators in America — is taking a break from putting his foot in his mouth for the holiday season, he does it again. As Republican leaders step over one another to condemn the health advisories around traveling and gathering for Thanksgiving, Cruz jumped on the COVID-denial bandwagon to say share a very special and deeply idiotic image on Twitter. On Saturday, Cruz posted a black and white image of a turkey with the words "come and take it" below. His post, which used a star to represent the Texas flag, was the latest in a string of Republicans who are trying to create a "culture war" over Thanksgiving during the pandemic (which has killed over 255,000 Americans so far).

Texas, specifically, is in the middle of an aggressive second wave, and was the first state in the U.S. to reach 1 million COVID cases earlier this month. The National Guard is currently helping morgues in El Paso process the hundreds of thousands of the nearly 20,500 victims who have died.

But since Cruz asked for everyone to "come and take it," the internet replied — and not in kind.

But in case we needed another reason to condemn Ted Cruz, his failed turkey post was matched with the reappearance of a problematic predicion he made in July. During an appearance on CNN, Cruz declared that Democrats would stop caring about the coronavirus if Joe Biden won the election. “If it ends up that Biden wins in November—I hope he doesn't, I don't think he will—but if he does, I guarantee you the week after the election, suddenly all those Democratic governors, all of those Democratic mayors will say, “Everything is magically better, go back to work, go back to school,” Cruz told the network as it labeled his segment “Sen. Cruz Foolishly Downplays Severity of COVID-19.”

“Suddenly the problems are solved. You won’t to have to wait for Biden to be sworn in.” And despite being absolutely sure that this would be the case, November came, along with Biden’s win, and Democratic governors have been doing the exact opposite of Cruz’s prediction. A second wave of coronavirus infections have overwhelmed the U.S. and state governors have been shutting down their states in an effort to curb infection rates.

In California, indoor dining in San Francisco has been banned, while outdoor dining was banned throughout L.A. County; the latter will switch to delivery and take-out options only for at least three weeks. In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the closure of the state’s restaurants, bars, movie theaters, in-person learning option for schools and gyms. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also shut down in-person learning options for New York City public school children as infection rates have began to climb again.

Perhaps Ted Cruz should keep his hot takes to himself — or maybe he can spread them only at his own Thanksgiving dinner, which is surely shaping up to be the superspreader event of the holiday season.