Ted Cruz is a lot of things: a Texan, a Cuban-American politician, a father of two, Heidi Cruz’s husband. Apparently, he’s a lot a lot of fun. In a recent GQ feature titled “Beto O’Rourke vs. Ted Cruz and the Fight for America,” which looks at the battle the two men face in Texas as they compete for a Senate seat, Cruz explains he’s misunderstood.
“The nature of the modern media world is that in different periods of time, different narratives hold,” he said. “Typically those narratives are overstated or caricatures. [At the beginning of my career], I was this wild-eyed bomb thrower. That was never accurate.”
Instead, he believes people should have always seen his lighthearted nature. “I like to have fun. I enjoy life,” he added. “I like to make jokes. In 2013, during the Obama filibuster, I read Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor. I did a Darth Vader impression. Turned to Mike Lee and said, ‘Mike, I am your father.’ During the presidential campaign, I did Simpsons impressions and re-enacted scenes from The Princess Bride.”
And sure, those things might seem uncharacteristic for a politician, but Cruz is not fun when he’s trying to strip rights from vulnerable communities. Or when he’s defending heinous people like Alex Jones by comparing him to a Holocaust victim, or doing any of the other things that have endangered the wellbeing of people as a whole.
Cruz further stated, “We live in a society where we can disagree with each other with civility. We can have fun; we can laugh! You don’t have to take yourself that seriously.”
But when he’s actively supporting and pushing for policies that harm many, people can’t exactly put politics aside.