September 12, 2018

Ted Cruz Jokes to Oil Lobbyists About Eating Someone’s Son

“I was really tempted to tweet, ‘He was delicious,'” he said.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Ted Cruz’s patented brand of awkward dad humor was on display last week when he spoke to members of the American Petroleum Institute in Houston. The Republican senator, who is in the fight of his political life in deep-red Texas, has been increasingly soliciting support from Republicans to fend off impassioned Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. 

Here’s what happened at the event, per the New York Times: 

“When there’s extreme anger and hatred on the other side, don’t respond in kind,” Mr. Cruz told the audience beneath the glittering chandeliers. “Have fun. Be a joyful warrior.” He recalled encountering a Twitter handle, “Ted Cruz ate my son.” “I was really tempted to tweet, ‘He was delicious,'” he said.

Given that large segments of the internet believe—jokingly, we hope—that Cruz is a serial killer, it’s probably in the best interests of his Twitter mentions that he restrained from airing a joke about cannibalism. 

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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