Sen. Ted Cruz may have abandoned his Texas constituents as they froze without power or water so that he and his family could luxuriate (and violate CDC guidelines) in Cancun, and was then caught lying about it, but to Sean Hannity, the only victim was Cruz.

In case you have missed the Ted Cruz saga, he and his family decided to ditch the cold in Texas and leave his millions of struggling constituents to fend for themselves. When he was caught by internet sleuths (ironically, the news was confirmed by Fox News but barely covered on the network), Cruz falsely claimed he was just being a “good dad” because his daughters asked to take the trip when school was canceled.

But The New York Times obtained text messages Mrs. Cruz sent neighbors revealing that the whole family wanted to flee the cold, apparently having nothing to do with the daughters. And all that is notwithstanding that facts that the daughters’school discourages travel abroad during the COVID pandemic, the CDC recommends avoiding travel to Mexico, Cruz told Texans to “just stay home” and has attacked other politicians who traveled after advising constituents to stay home.

With outrage escalating against him, Sen. Cruz suddenly had a major change of heart. From The Times:

After landing back in the United States, Mr. Cruz offered a new statement with a different tone from earlier in the day, when he had tried to explain the vacation without regrets and left the impression that it might have always been a one-day trip for him. Speaking to reporters after his arrival home, he conceded that the trip was “obviously a mistake” and said he had begun having “second thoughts” as soon as he boarded the plane to Mexico intent on a few days of remote work in the sun.

“The plan had been to stay through the weekend with the family,” he said, framing the decision as a parent’s attempt to placate his two daughters, ages 10 and 12, after a “tough week.

“On the one hand, all of us who are parents have a responsibility to take care of our kids, take care of our families,” Mr. Cruz said. “But I also have a responsibility that I take very seriously of fighting for the state of Texas.”

“As it became a bigger and bigger firestorm, it became all the more compelling that I needed to come back,” he added.

And what better toady to help massage the facts and administer a dose of Republican Rehab than Sean Hannity – a guy who probably would have done the same thing, except via private jet? Forget the freezing Texans: the real victim here is Father of the Year Cruz!

HANNITY: Senator Ted Cruz tonight is facing the ire of the mob, the media, for traveling to Cancun, Mexico, with his daughters, to drop them off and come home as Texas is still addressing the fallout and damage from severe weather.

Now, in response, Senator Cruz tonight did say in retrospect, he might have made a mistake, adding in a statement in part, “wanting to be a good Dad, I flew down with them last night and I’m flying right back this afternoon” and he did. “My staff and I are in constant communication with state, local leaders to get to the bottom of what happened in Texas.”

Hannity started off by boasting about some insider knowledge that he pretended exonerated Cruz, starting with the fact that Fox fave meteorologist Joe Bastardi sent a note to both Cruz and Texas Gov. Abbott saying he thought the storm would be far worse than others are predicting. (By the way, I have several relatives in Texas and the storm was exactly what they had expected and they never heard a peep from Bastardi.)

Then Hannity announced the findings of his “own reporting” that he claimed exonerated Cruz – and never mind that "the daughters" story has already been blown to smithereens.

HANNITY: You got in touch with, the governor got in touch with him, you took it seriously and you worked hand-in-hand with the governor in the lead up to this, knowing this was all a big possibility and this is days before that happened and you were fully and completely engaged and I know that from my own reporting and my own conversations with you and Governor Abbott and with Joe Bastardi. Um, now you went and you took your daughters to Cancun and you came back. I think you can be a father and be the senator of Texas all at the same time and make a round trip, quick drop-off trip and come home.

Predictably, Cruz went along. He noted that Hannity “connected me with Joe early on,” praised Hannity’s pal as “very impressive” and boasted about having “spent significant time on the phone with him, talking through what he saw coming.” 

Cruz began putting all the responsibility – and implicit blame – on Abbott: “I reached out to Gov. Abbott and said, ‘Listen, this guy knows his stuff and you ought to talk to him’ and we helped connect them.”

Next, Cruz made a big show of caring for and about the constituents he had ditched and lied to:

CRUZ: At the same time, Gov. Abbott had already declared an emergency in all 254 counties, all across Texas and so I joined with [Texas Sen.] John Cornyn in urging Joe Biden to declare a federal disaster to mirror the governor’s request, which President Biden, to his credit, did, and so that was early on, right before these storms came. We knew they were serious.

This week has been hell for the state of Texas, it has been two storms on top of each other. Four million Texans lost power, no power, no lights, many with no water. It has been frustrating.

I’ll tell you, Sean, a lot of Texans are mad or pissed off. How could it be that Texas, the energy capital of the world can’t turn our lights on and can’t heat our homes? A lot of Texans are frustrated. This shouldn’t have happened.

Notice anything missing? Cruz said nothing about trying to help those “frustrated” constituents. Beto O’Rourke, who came close to defeating Cruz in 2018, has organized wellness checks on seniors. But after whining about having lived with the same conditions his constituents are forced to live through, Cruz and family decided to flee - and blame his daughters. He was going to work remotely there but thoughts of his suffering constituents (not the political damage he was suffering) gave him second thoughts – and an opportunity to reiterate that it’s really not his problem but Gov. Abbott’s.

CRUZ: I’ll tell you, Heidi and me, we lost power for two days. Our house was dark. We had no heat. Actually, the fireplace behind me – we were huddled around the fireplace because it was the only heat in the house and, and after a couple of days, after the girls being really cold, it being in the teens and the 20s outside, uh, our girls asked, said look, school’s been canceled for the week, can we take a trip and go somewhere warm? And Heidi and I, as parents, we said OK, sure. And so last night, I flew down with them, uh, to the beach, uh, and then I flew back this afternoon.

I’d initially planned to stay through the weekend and to work remotely there but, but as I, as I was heading down there, you know, I started to have second thoughts almost immediately because the crisis here in Texas – you need to be here on the ground and as much as you can do by phone and Zoom, it’s not the same as being here and so I returned this afternoon and I’m here working to make sure to do everything we can to get the power turned on, but also fundamentally to ask the questions, why did this happen?

Why was the Texas grid, which is regulated at the state level, it’s operated at the state level, it’s not a federal function, it’s a state function – but why was the grid not sufficiently prepared so that four million Texans lost heat and power? We need to answer that and we need to make sure it never happens again in the State of Texas …

Cruz never said what it was he was doing on the ground that he couldn't do via remote - other than hope to repair his image.

After know-it-all Hannity lectured about wind energy, he closed with a seal of approval:

HANNITY: You made the right call coming back. You also can be a father. There’s also something called technology. We also know what teleworking is and I think there’s a lot of sanctimony and politics being played in this attack and I – look, Governor Perry made me an honorary Texan. That’s why I made the call to you and Governor Abbott. I feel a responsibility for Americans that actually, uh, don’t hate me, like the state I’m living in, New York.

So if New York were to suffer some kind of catastrophe, Hannity wouldn't do for them the gigantic favor he did for Texas and hook the governor up with Hannity's favorite weatherman.

Sorry, Seanie-Poo, but telling a governor to talk to a weatherman – when the governor surely has excellent weather information already – is diddlysquat. You earn millions of dollars every year and you couldn’t even be bothered to try to send water.

Nor did you ask “concerned” Ted how things are going, how FEMA is helping, whether the roads are passable, how crops and livestock are faring, etc. That’s because it couldn’t be more obvious that neither you nor your buddy Ted give a damn about the people, only how this catastrophe may help or hurt your politics.

I’ve spent a lot of time this week worrying about my family who didn't jet off to Cancun when the power went out and all I can say is this: Go f*** yourselves, both of you.

If you are a Texas resident, please consider calling Cruz’s office and letting him know what you think of him. You can reach him at (202) 224-5922.

You can watch these two over-privileged s***heads below, from the February 18, 2021 Hannity.