Did Donald Trump Jr's video rant to defend Ted Cruz backfire because of the confusing wording of both his tweet and the video he uploaded on Rumble? Worse, did it inadvertently diss the crisis management skills of the Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott? In the end, the GOP might have been better off without Don Jr's defense of "Cancun Cruz". His big mistake? Saying Ted Cruz was not responsible for handling any crisis in Texas since he was a Senator, but a Governor was, making people think he was talking about Governor Abbott.

In reality, he was actually talking about Democrat Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo. According to his defenders, he had wanted to draw attention to how  Cruz's Cancun trip was being used to deflect attention from Cuomo, who has been accused of holding back data about nursing home deaths.  "I suspect that Don Jr. was referring to the governor who has been protected by many of the critics who are now attacking Cruz. That governor was the New York governor, Cuomo," clarified one user, while another said: "Not that I'm big on defending Don Jr., particularly while he's frantic about going to prison, but I think he may have meant Gov. Cuomo, not Gov. Abbott. Frantic people and sloppy thinkers are often inarticulate. Take your pick."

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Don Jr himself supported these speculations, retweeting Republican strategist Andrew Surabian words: "Even @Newsweek has now fact checked the lie promoted by blue checkmark left-wingers and trended by @twitter that Don Jr. claimed the Governor of TX was a Democrat as FALSE. Congrats to all of the hacks who helped spread this misinformation!"  

 

The confusion had originally started because of how Don Jr worded his first tweet advertising his video on Twitter. "The hypocrisy of those trying to cancel Ted Cruz who have been totally silent on their Democrat Governor’s incompetence is telling. My thoughts on the Cancún Cruz fauxoutrage! #Cruz #CancunGate is fake," Don Jr. said, captioning his posted video link. In the video itself, he said while the "optics" of Cruz taking a "family vacation" was not great, it was the Governor's job to handle any crisis while Cruz was a Senator. "If I were a Trump... which I am, I would come up with a nickname like... 'Cancun Cruz' -- it's funny but I can't get on this bandwagon trying to cancel the guy," he added. 

 

 

Those who read his tweet and saw his video assumed he was talking about the situation in Texas. Since he hadn't mentioned New York Governor Cuomo by name, no one realized who he was talking about. After all, why would a New York Governor be responsible for what was happening in Texas? So, soon after he tweeted his 'hot take', many social media users dragged him on Twitter for not knowing that Texas' current Governor is Republican Greg Abbott, who has held that post since 2015.

"Texas is a Republican Aaaaaaaand Don, Jr. thinks the Governor of Texas is a Democrat. Go snort some more blow, Junior," said one tweet, while another said: "Dude... the Governor of Texas is a Republican. Does your insurance cover Rehab?". Another user commented: "Don Jr. blaming the Democrat governor of Texas for the blackouts When the governor of Texas is a Republican Sums up Jr’s entire moronic life."

 

 

 

 

Even after the Newsweek fact check appeared, Don Jr was not spared. Twitter users then began dragging him for his confusing defence. "He screwed up his “gotcha” tweet so it read like he was calling the governor of Texas a democrat," said one tweet. Another user commented on a tweet calling Don Jr "moronic" by saying: "No. Don Jr was deflecting and referencing Cuomo in his usual whataboutism way. But only trump cultists got the reference."