MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

#BoringButRadical: Ted Cruz tries to prove Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi were sleeping during Joe Biden's address

'Awww, to justify yourself for nodding off? They are blinking not nodding. Big difference. The other difference is that they actually care about average Americans, you don't'

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz made news when he was spotted dozing off during President Joe Biden's speech at the joint session of Congress on Wednesday, April 28, just minutes after senior GOP Senator Mitt Romney was seen sleeping in the balcony.

Following the incident, Cruz was ridiculed on social media — he was dubbed as “Ted Snooze” by many on Twitter. But Cruz also took to social media to comment on this. He wrote, “#BoringButRadical,” while sharing the viral clip of him snoozing.

READ MORE

Did Ted Cruz fly to Cancun amid a state emergency? Senator slammed as ‘uncaring seditionist’ by struggling Texans

Ted SNOOZE: Did Texas Senator Ted Cruz sleep at Joe Biden's address? 'Come and take it' mask sparks meme fest

He also retweeted a screengrab of the address that made it seem as though Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were also dozing off as Biden spoke, writing, “Kamala & Nancy agree.... #BoringButRadical.”

Cruz had, prior to this, called the speech "boring but radical" on social media and in interviews. "Joe is deliberately being boring, but the substance of what he's saying is radical," Cruz said on Fox News.

His deflection at Harris and Pelosi further drew the public’s ire. One Twitter user wrote to him, “Awww, to justify yourself for nodding off? They are blinking not nodding. Big difference. The other difference is that they actually care about average Americans, you don't. You only care about your own. Therefore, the reason nodding off or leaving your constituents freezing.” Another Twitter user said, “I’m sure the speech wasn’t as exciting as abandoning your constituents during an emergency for a vacay in Cancun. Putz.”

They were, of course, talking about Cruz’s infamous Cancun trip. Earlier in February, when Texas was freezing and there was a power crisis, Cruz got out, fleeing Houston and hopping an afternoon flight to Cancún with his family for a respite at a luxury resort.

Photos of Cruz and his wife, Heidi, boarding the flight caused a furor, which only intensified with his subsequent statement saying he had flown to Mexico “to be a good dad” and accompany his daughters and their friends. Text messages sent from Heidi Cruz to friends and Houston neighbors revealed a hastily planned trip. Their house was “FREEZING,” as she put it. She proposed a getaway and invited others to join them at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancún, where they had stayed “many times”.

After landing back in the United States, Cruz offered a new statement. Speaking to reporters, he said that the trip was “obviously a mistake” and said he had begun having “second thoughts” as soon as he boarded the plane to Mexico. “The plan had been to stay through the weekend with the family,” he said, framing the decision as a parent’s attempt to placate his two daughters, ages 10 and 12, after a “tough week”.

“On the one hand, all of us who are parents have a responsibility to take care of our kids, take care of our families,” Cruz said. “But I also have a responsibility that I take very seriously of fighting for the state of Texas.”

Cruz is not the first person to be caught sleeping at a presidential address. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously dozed off before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech in 2015. In 2019, an 11-year-old boy invited to the State of the Union fell asleep and achieved viral fame.