Sen. Ted Cruz may have walked the thinnest line on Donald Trump’s voter-fraud charges after the 2020 election among the numerous Republicans who did so.
After the January 6 uprising, he promised to fight Trump’s case before the Supreme Court and even led the unsuccessful appeal to the election results. Cruz, like many others, avoided engaging in-depth on the real proof of the alleged fraud. Instead, he marketed his work as a series of questions that fed unfounded notions while permitting convincing denial.
And when it all blew out on January 6, Cruz exercised this denial: He labeled Trump’s voter-fraud accusations “reckless,” “irresponsible,” and “far over the line,” despite having promised to explain Trump’s case, and claimed Trump bears some responsibility for his “angry rhetoric.”
Like other party members, Cruz has subsequently reversed his position. This week, he is releasing a book that he describes as the first inside account of what transpired on January 6.
According to Cruz’s appearance with Fox News on Sunday evening, he will walk readers through the proof of election fraud and voter fraud in 2020. He adds that the Democrats and the corporate media swear does not exist.
The final text should be incredibly revealing in terms of real proof and of Cruz’s and the GOP’s easy conversion after January 6.
Despite harshly condemning Trump after January 6, Cruz remained steadfast in his belief that widespread voter fraud occurred, even if Trump’s specific charges were false. And it is at least theoretically conceivable for him to assess the available data soberly.
Cruz will likely give just enough smoke to appeal to the many Republicans who continue to retain misgivings about the legality of the 2020 election. Cruz has demonstrated that he is more than prepared to pay the price of relevance in the modern Republican Party.
On January 6, when Cruz assembled almost a dozen Republican senators to dispute the election results, their statement was worded with great care. It did not mention real proof of fraud; instead, it referred to claims and perceptions of fraud and the need to reassure individuals.
It mentioned “unprecedented allegations of voter fraud.” The report continued that claims of fraud and anomalies in the 2020 election are unprecedented in our livesd. Even a poll indicating that 39% of Americans felt the election was rigged was highlighted.
Cruz repeated these ideas in his floor remarks just before the riot.
Such allegations, perceptions, and beliefs flourished in large part because almost nobody in Trump’s party would say before January 6 what Cruz said afterward: that it was “reckless” and “irresponsible” for Trump to claim the election was “stolen everywhere” and that there was “massive fraud.”
His party made diluted remarks regarding alleged “irregularities” and state electoral processes.
Then, events evolved. Kevin McCarthy traveled to Mar-a-Lago to make amends for blaming Trump for the events of January 6. Soon, Republicans began to portray January 6 as a non-event, even ousting Liz Cheney from the House leadership for having the audacity to continue pushing the subject.
If you want a preview of what you may expect to read about Cruz’s “proof” of voting fraud, you need only consider what he claimed Sunday evening.
Therefore, Cruz remarked that if you’re at home talking to folks about January 6, the left will use outrageously politicized terminology like ‘insurrection,’ which is utter political nonsense. Whoever employs this term is engaging in political spin.
Cruz who branded Trump’s assertions “reckless” and “irresponsible” is now going to lodge his proof of voting fraud, in the interest of playing up his attempts to object to the 2020 election results, particularly after the January 6 riot indicated that some senators were becoming “wobbly.”
It is doubtful that these charges will reach the same level as Trump’s. Cruz will likely avoid discussing the ideas regarding election equipment and Antrim County, Michigan.