Two weeks after the Capitol attack he helped inspire, Sen. Ted Cruz is back to rallying the remnants of Trump’s base, from wearing a “come and take it” mask at Biden’s inauguration to echoing Trump’s words in a statement reacting to the U.S. rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement.
The latter received particularly sharp rebuke on Twitter, where Cruz said rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement showed Biden was, “more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh” — a reference to Trump the day the U.S. withdrew from the international agreement in 2017 when Trump said, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
It did not take long for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to respond:
Her reply calling Cruz dumb and traitorous garnered more than half a million likes, ensuring that most of Twitter joined in on this week’s periodical Cruz-bashing.
“Keep it up and he’ll phone bank for you in two months,” one Twitter user replied to Rogen’s string of insults. Brutal.
The response of fellow squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) to Cruz was a single word: “Dumbass.”
The Paris Climate Agreement is an international agreement among countries to try and limit temperature growth to only 1.5 to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Unlike Cruz and Trump have suggested, the agreement will not dictate American energy policy. The U.N. deal only asks that countries develop and act on climate action plans of their own choosing, and regularly report and review emission reduction goals.
America’s rejoining of the agreement was part of a series of executive orders made by Biden during the first day of his administration. The same day, Biden canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline, began the work of rolling back the Trump era’s weakening of environmental regulations, and promised legislation on climate change.
The latest U.N. climate report says the globe must limit global warming to 1.5°C to prevent long-lasting or irreversible damage to Earth’s ecosystems. The report estimates that at the current rate, Earth will warm by 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052.
Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
