When Congress met to certify the electoral votes – and the presidency for Joe Biden – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was one of the leading challengers in the Senate. He led a group of 10 other senators that objected to various states' electoral votes being certified due to allegations of voting irregularities and constitutional concerns. His solution was to create an election commission that conducted an emergency audit over a 10-day period.
As a result of his objection, the Houston Chronicle is calling on Cruz to resign, saying he "knew exactly what he was doing" when he objected. The paper believes the Texas senator is responsible for the violence that ensued on Capitol Hill and resulted in numerous deaths.
"A brilliant and frequent advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court and a former Texas solicitor general, Cruz knew exactly what he was doing, what he was risking and who he was inciting as he stood on the Senate floor Wednesday and passionately fed the farce of election fraud even as a seething crowd of believers was being whipped up by President Trump a short distance away," the paper's editorial board wrote.
The editorial board argued that Cruz compounded President Donald Trump's "lies" about voter fraud and the election. They shot down Cruz's assertion that any member of Congress that voted to certify the election would tell millions of Americans their concerns were unwarranted.
"Actually, senators who voted to certify the facts delivered the truth — something Americans haven’t been getting from a political climber whose own insatiable hunger for power led him to ride Trump’s bus to Crazy Town through 59 losing court challenges, past state counts and recounts and audits, and nally taking the wheel to drive it to the point of no return: trying to bully the U.S. Congress into rejecting tens of millions of lawfully cast votes in an election that even Trump’s Department of Homeland Security called the most secure in American history," the editorial read.
The most asinine part of the editorial: the board believes Cruz rallied Trump supporters so he could cash in on political donations. They cite a fundraising email that came from Cruz's campaign.
"Cruz claims the message was automated. Even if that’s true, it’s revolting," the board wrote.
The Chronicle's editorial board believes Cruz bears a part in the "deadly terror attack" because he "joined Trump in beating the drum of election fraud until Trump loyalists were deaf to anyone — Republican, Democrat or nonpartisan journalist, not to mention state and federal courts — telling them otherwise."
The Texas senator was one of many Republican officials that condemned the violence while it was happening. Still, that wasn't enough for the newspaper.
"Well, senator, those terrorists wouldn’t have been at the Capitol if you hadn’t staged this absurd challenge to the 2020 results in the first place," the editors wrote. "You are unlikely to be prosecuted for inciting the riots, as President Trump may yet be, and there is no election to hold you accountable until 2024. So, we call for another consequence, one with growing support across Texas: Resign."
The board went on to name other issues they had with Cruz, like him fighting the Affordable Care Act in 2013.
"We’re done with the drama. Done with the opportunism. Done with the cynical scheming that has now cost American lives," the editorial concluded. "Resign, Mr. Cruz, and deliver Texas from the shame of calling you our senator."