At a rally last night in Georgetown, Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz embraced the fully Trumpian campaign tactic of calling for the jailing of his political opponent, challenger Beto O’Rourke.
While attacking O’Rourke over a lack of support for Israel, a woman shouted at Cruz to “lock him up.”
Cruz—who once was the staunchest Never Trumpers in the Republican Party—instead of dismissing the cry, leaned into it, looping O’Rourke in with former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who Trump frequently demands to be jailed.
“Well, you know, there’s a double-occupancy cell with Hillary Clinton,” Cruz said.
It should be noted that voting “no” on funding a missile defense system for Israel is not an arrestable offense.
Cruz at least seemed aware that his response was maybe a mistake.
“Y’all are gonna get me in trouble with that,” he said, according to Mother Jones. “They’re not gonna cover anything about taxes or anything else, that’s gonna be the entire news broadcast.”
https://www.facebook.com/motherjonesvideo/videos/1167608530087159/
Cruz’s remarks were decried online.
https://twitter.com/KenLayne/status/1054945571117588480
Candidate #TedCruz advocates jailing #BetoORourke and other political rivals. In related news: Democracy is faltering in the #UnitedStates. https://t.co/1xI6GatvDk
— Brucephalus Krull Logan 🍥 (@BruceKLogan) October 24, 2018
The level to which politicians will stoop when discussing their political opponents tells you all you need to know about them — Ted Cruz says Beto O'Rourke can have "double occupancy cell with Hillary Clinton" after supporter yells "lock him up" https://t.co/5R70fLeMxq
— Jana Lynne Sanchez (@thejanasanchez) October 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/JamesKosur/status/1055066761605890048
Cruz’s “double occupancy” joke harkens back to another of his multiplier-themed insults of O’Rourke: that he was a “triple-meat Whataburger liberal.”
H/T Mother Jones