Every time we look at the responses to a post by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, we always see multiple people bringing up the time in February 2021 when he accompanied his daughter to Cancun during an ice storm in Texas. Now it's the summer of 2025, and people still won't let it go, kind of like Joe Biden still clinging to the "very fine people" hoax.
So we know what to expect going into The Daily Beast's EXCLUSIVE report on Cruz being on vacation in Athens, Greece, on Independence Day, when the Guadalupe River overflowed its banks, rising 26 feet in just 45 minutes. It's an absolute tragedy, especially considering the deaths of the young girls whose Christian camp was swept away in the flood.
The Daily Beast even came up with a graphic of Cruz in "Where's Waldo?" gear for its report.
EXCLUSIVE | Ted Cruz was vacationing in Athens as floods ripped through Central Texas.https://t.co/QMuDdQkUJt
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 7, 2025
The Daily Beast reports under the clever sub-head "Greek Tragedy":
While Cruz admired the Doric columns of the fifth century B.C. ancient Greek temple, emergency workers were still searching for summer campers and families caught in the flash floods that cascaded through Texas Hill Country and inundated the Guadalupe River.
It is not the first time that Cruz has faced criticism for holidaying while his constituents have faced a natural disaster.
In 2021, Cruz took his family on a trip to Cancun, Mexico, after Texas was hit by a winter storm that left millions in his state freezing without power or water. At the time, the senator defended his sunshine flight by saying he wanted to be “a good dad” but returned because “it didn’t feel right.”
What part of "flash flood" don't they get?
The definition of a flash flood is that it is a surprise. Unlike the wildfires and Karen Bass’ trip to Ghana.
— CheckMarkPrime (@PrimeCheckMark) July 8, 2025
What a ridiculous take. A lot of people were on vacation for the holiday weekend. The fact he cut his vacation short to come home should have been the story.
— mr-boring-1 (@mrboring110) July 8, 2025
And flew back immediately, arriving in Texas on Friday.
— Gary in DFW (@LakerGMC_) July 7, 2025
Macarena Martinez, Cruz's communications director, wasn't having it:
A bullshit piece published by a bullshit rag outlet with no credibility, and with no regard for the tragedy in Texas.
— Macarena Martinez (@macamrtz) July 7, 2025
The Senator is on the ground in Texas and arrived as fast as humanly possible.
I explained all of this to their two-faced reporter. https://t.co/YWCTtaRxY7
Here's the guy who admits to being the executive editor of The Daily Beast:
Hi @macamrtz. You asked to go off the record when we asked for comment, which we agreed to believing it was a good faith request. So yes you did explain it, but you didn’t want quoted by name and omitted to mention that in this post. Now that’s changed we have updated our story.
— Hugh Dougherty (@HughDougherty) July 7, 2025
Y’all expect him to hold back a wall of water or something? pic.twitter.com/SG4daoxk53
— Jay (@OneFineJay) July 7, 2025
So, what? The people there didn’t even know or have time to react. It’s the Fourth of July weekend. The Senate just passed the OBBBA to the House.
— Derek Moore (@dntmoore) July 7, 2025
Make a real point.
So the correct headline is "Ted Cruz cut his vacation short to be with his constituents during an unexpected tragedy." Does "idiot to English" dictionary come with the subscription to your bull crap publication?
— Tanya Berlaga (@TBerlaga) July 7, 2025
Yes, how dare Sen. Cruz leave for vacation days before no one anywhere knew flash floods would hit Texas?
— David Blackmon's Energy Absurdity (@EnergyAbsurdity) July 7, 2025
Do you people even give a moment's thought to the utter bullshit you publish?
How DARE he be out of the country during the 3 hours in which the Guadalupe River flooded for the 19th time?
— Mark Pfeifer (@markpfeifer999) July 8, 2025
Dammit Ted you should have known!!!!
Gotta score those political points, don't you? That's the only despicable behavior we're seeing here.
— Cogitotron (@Cogitotron) July 8, 2025
And where the fuck were you?
— Orwell Blarghskovich III (@IiiOrwell) July 8, 2025
Did The Daily Beast post flood warning posts to X to its 1.2 million followers? Certainly, it could have saved lives if it had taken place in the early warning effort.
How dare Cruz take a vacation over a long holiday weekend knowing a flash flood was imminent?
***
Join the conversation as a VIP Member