Ted Cruz’s ‘Live Footage from Rio Grande’ Video Draws MAGA Praise and Blue Check Ridicule: ‘Not an SNL Sketch’
Senator Ted Cruz joined a delegation of fellow Republican members of Congress by visiting immigration facilities at the Southern US border. The media-friendly tour is designed to bring attention to the situation at the border, and score some political hit points against President Joe Biden.
Cruz took it a step further but posting a video of himself allegedly on the banks of the Rio Grande, complete with remote light suggesting a proper camera crew. The video was similar to that which has been filed by both CNN’s Ed Lavandera and Fox News Griff Jenkins, though no individuals were featured.
Some context: Right of center media, and many members of the GOP, have used the steady flow of undocumented migrants from Central American countries into the United States as a political cudgel, calling it a “crisis” meant to harm the Biden Administration. The Associated Press, however, has made clear that they don’t consider the current state a “crisis” and have noted that the current influx is not materially different than that which came during the Trump administration. Or in other words, there isn’t anything materially different from Spring levels of illegal immigrants in 2021 than any number of years that proceeded.
The reaction on Twitter has fallen predictably along partisan lines. Many on the left found Cruz’s video absurd and given his past vacation plans to Cancun amid a Texan cold weather catastrophe, jokes were made. To wit:
https://twitter.com/donmoyn/status/1375462872990502917?s=20
There were many on Twitter who praised Senator Cruz for going to the border and seeing for himself the situation that is getting so much attention in the world of political media. Fox & Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth appeared on Fox News to praise the US Senator for going to the border and reporting on it himself, which you can see below, via Fox News:
