Twitter Has Questions After Cruz Posts Clip of O’Rourke Speaking on Botham Jean Shooting: He’s ‘Endorsing Beto’?

Josh FeldmanSep 22nd, 2018, 1:34 pm
 

Last night Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke faced off in their first big debate, and one of Cruz’s arguments has been met with much confusion on Twitter.

During the debate, Cruz was asked about his statements criticizing O’Rourke for speaking out to denounce the shooting of Botham Jean by a police officer who thought she was going into her own apartment and a stranger was in there.

Cruz said the shooting was horrific and tragic, criticizing O’Rourke for saying the officer who fatally shot Jean should be fired while the investigation is ongoing. He said it’s part of a “troubling pattern” of O’Rourke siding “against the police” and said he’s being divisive by bringing up issues of race in police shootings.

During the debate, Cruz’s Twitter account posted a clip of O’Rourke in his “own words” to drive home his point.

Here is what O’Rourke says in the clip the Cruz campaign chose to post (video above):

“How can it be in this day and age, in this very year, in this community, that a young man, African-American, in his own apartment is shot and killed by a police officer. And then, when we all want justice and the facts and the information to make an informed decision, what is released to the public? That he had a small amount of marijuana in his kitchen. How can that be just in this country? How can we continue to lose the lives of unarmed black men in the United States of America at the hands of white police officers? That is not justice, that is not us, that can and that must chance. Are you with me on this?”

Many people watching the clip came away with the same question: is there a reason that Cruz posted something that makes his opponent look good?

[image via screengrab]

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Josh Feldman - Senior Editor

Josh Feldman is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Email him here: josh@mediaite.com Follow him on Twitter: @feldmaniac