OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A crazed man attacked Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at a restaurant near where the National Rifle Association convention was held.
It came days after the massacre at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school where 19 children and two teachers were murdered, and the same day that Se. Cruz spoke at the convention.
“So I was having dinner and got to see a show. Ted Cruz being accosted literally the whole time, lmao,” a TikTok user said in the caption of the video.
“Why did you come here to the convention?” the man shouted at the senator and then shouted again and again “19 children died! 19 children died! That’s on your hands! Ted Cruz, that’s on your hands!”
The man was being restrained by another man as he attempted to get closer to the senator.
Everyone should be furious at the deaths of these children and teachers, but blaming a senator for it, and accosting him is not the way to express that frustration, unless you are a Democrat on Twitter and you think it is fantastic.
video: Ted Cruz, restaurant, yesterday
I believe in ANY sort of non-violent protest against people with the power to save lives who chose not to
ANYWHERE ANY TIME pic.twitter.com/fqVvHjbAMl— Ms W (@SusanDWeiss) May 28, 2022
“This needs to happen every day, any time he goes out in public. Don’t let him—or anyone else—forget,” feminist author Jessica Valenti said.
This needs to happen every day, any time he goes out in public. Don't let him—or anyone else—forget. https://t.co/0pJ6E40p3b
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) May 28, 2022
“This guy should never be allowed a moment of peace for the rest of his life,” writer Stephen Douglas said.
This guy should never be allowed a moment of peace for the rest of his life. https://t.co/LPCc64uGz8
— Stephen Douglas (@Stephen_Douglas) May 28, 2022
“We can’t let people like Ted Cruz live comfortable lives. We can never let them have a moment of peace,” Cameron Kasky said.
We can’t let people like Ted Cruz live comfortable lives.
We can never let them have a moment of peace https://t.co/Ul0h1R1Pss
— Cameron Kasky🎄 (@cameron_kasky) May 28, 2022
At the NRA convention the senator said schools should be secured the way courthouses are.
“’Schools, likewise, should have a single point of entry,” he said. :At that single point of entry, we should have multiple armed police officers, or if need be, military veterans trained to provide security and keep our children safe.
“’We need serious funding to upgrade our schools to install bulletproof doors, and locking classroom doors,” the senator said.
“I was in Dallas in 2016, in Sutherland Springs in 2017, in Santa Fe in 2018, in El Paso and Midland Odessa in 2019, and now Uvalde. Each time was the picture of horror,” he said.
“’Tragedies like the events of this week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing,” he said as he blamed “broken families, absent fathers, declining church attendance, and social media bullying” as issues that could cause some of these incidents.
“Many would still tell us that the evil displayed in Uvalde or in Buffalo derives from the presence of guns in the hands of ordinary American citizens.
“It’s rather easier to slander one’s political adversaries and demand that responsible citizens forfeit their constitutional rights than it is to examine the cultural sickness giving births to unspeakable acts of evil. It’s far less comfortable to ask why despair, isolation, and violent hatred is so prevalent in America,’ he said.
His ideas are in line with those expressed by former President Donald trump at the convention.
“While we don’t yet know enough about this week’s killing, we know there are many things we must do,” the president said. “We need to drastically change our approach to mental health. There are always so many warning signs. Almost all of these disfigured minds share the same profile.”
“Teachers, parents, school officials, and community members need to be recognizing and addressing these alarm bells promptly and very, very aggressively,” he said.. “And our school discipline systems, instead of making excuses and continually turning a blind eye, need to confront bad behavior head on and quickly. And clearly we need to make it far easier to confine the violent and mentally deranged into mental institutions.”
“If the United States has $40 billion to send to Ukraine, we should be able to do whatever it takes to keep our children safe at home, the former president said. “We spent trillions in Iraq, trillions in Afghanistan, and got nothing. Before we nation-build the rest of the world, we should be building safe schools for our own children in our own nation. Right?”
