As Texas faced flash floods, “Flyin’ Ted” Cruz was vacationing in Greece, a reminder of what happened in 2021 when Cruz flew to Cancun as Texas faced devastating winter storms. But attacking him for this seems quite unreasonable, especially when he cut his vacation short to fly home when the devestation became clear.

Ted Cruz Faces Backlash For Greece Vacation During Texas Floods

Even as search and rescue efforts continue, over 100 people have tragically died in Kerr County, Texas due to flash flooding of the Guadalupe River, which rose more than 26 feet in just 45 minutes. Vicims include dozens of girls from a youth camp who found themselves unable to escape to high ground.

About a day after the Guadalupe River surge began, Cruz was pictured visiting the Parthenon in Athens with his wife, Heidi. One witness allegedly confronted him, saying, “20 kids dead in Texas and you take a vacation?”

“He sort of grunted and walked on. His wife shot me a dirty look. Then they continued on with their tour guide.”

What a convenient story…

On Sunday, Cruz cut his vacation short and flew back to Texas. During a press conference yesterday, he found himself on the defensive again:

“In the first few hours of this flood, I was on the phone with Governor Abbott, was on the phone with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, I was on the phone with Nim Kidd, the head of the Texas Department of Emergency Management, and then I called President Trump.

“He was having dinner at the time, it was still early in what was transpiring, and I wanted him to know. I said, Mr. President, from everything we’re hearing right now, this appears to be bad, really bad.

“There may be a very significant loss of life unfolding right now in Texas… The president said, ‘Ted… whatever assets you need, whatever resources you need, yes, let us know, and we will provide everything.’

“Within hours, we had over a dozen helicopters in the air, National Guard, DPS, game wardens, Coast Guard, doing search and rescue.”

Cruz insists that his swift communication with Texas officials and President Trump saved lives and helped far more Texans than his personal presence would have.

And here, I think he’s right…

Cruz also claimed his own daughter was only five miles from Camp Mystic…scary, indeed.

Unfair Criticism Of Cruz

I find the criticism against Cruz misplaced. The Texas floods are such a tragedy because they were not predicted…and Cruz was on an airplane to Greece before the storms hit. He cut his trip short to return, showing leadership.

All of this is an issue because in 2021, Cruz fled horrible storms in Texas to fly to Cancun with his family. While hundreds of Texans died and millions were without power, Cruz flew United Airlines to Mexico.

> Read More: Ted Cruz Flees To Mexico On United Airlines. Wouldn’t You?

But while I understood the outrage machine in 2021, I simply cannot buy into it here precisely because flash floods are flash (a rapid and extreme overflow of water)…they are often not predicted and certainly the flooding of the Guadalupe River was not predicted in the way it occurred.

Why did he wait to Sunday to fly home instead of Saturday? His press office claimed that it was the first available flight, but knowing Cruz is loyal to United and also how United clears upgrades, my hunch is that Sunday was the first day he could get home in business class.

CONCLUSION

Ted Cruz is under attack for vacationing in Greece during a natural disaster in Texas, but I find this particular line of attack against Cruz to be misplaced.

If you want to attack Cruz, attack him for supporteing a horrific spending that adds trilliions of dollars to our nationail debt, burdening my children with crippling debt as the dollar tanks in value. But don’t attack him for being in Greece when the unexpected storm hit.

I’m curious what my Texas readers think about this issue.

image: Ted Cruz/ X // Hat Tip: View From The Wing