Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, R., slammed his fists on a podium in frustration when asked why he and his fellow Republicans are not wearing masks.
Speaking out against Democrats trying to terminate the filibuster during a press conference on Tuesday, Cruz was asked by a reporter about him and his fellow Republicans not wearing masks. Cruz immediately got furious, shot down the question, and angrily asked the reporter why the “questions are only directed at one side” on masks.
“And by the way, on the question of hypocrisy, you just asked, you people at the podium are speaking without masks. Just once, I’d like to see a reporter say to Joe Biden when he stands at the damn podium in the White House without a mask, ‘Mr. President, why aren’t you wearing a mask?'” Cruz said angrily. “Just once, I’d like to see you say to Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, when she stands at the podium with no mask, ‘Ms. Psaki, why don’t you have a mask?’ The questions are only directed at one side, and I got to say that the American people see the hypocrisy.”
Cruz thumped his hands twice on the podium for effect.
Prior to being asked this answer, Cruz also called out the “wild hypocrisy” on the part of Biden’s administration concerning COVID-19 policies.
“I think there’s been wild hypocrisy from the Biden administration when it comes to COVID policies [on] mask mandates where Joe Biden rightly said we shouldn’t have mandates, [on] vaccine mandates where Joe Biden said we shouldn’t have vaccine mandates. As far as I know, everyone here has been vaccinated, double vaccinated, been boosted at some point,” Cruz said.
He added:
“I do know Dr. Fauci’s been all over the map about it. He’s said yes masks, no masks, he’s said, ‘Oh, I lied to the American people because they couldn’t handle it.’ At some point, the American people ought to be able to exercise their own freedom and make their decision.”
Since April 2021, Cruz has announced that he was done wearing masks after taking the COVID-19 vaccine. Since then, the 51-year-old politician has been repeatedly criticized by reporters for not wearing a mask during press events.
