Republican Senator Ted Cruz attempted to troll Democrats who refused to vote for the Republicans’ temporary spending bill by copying President Donald Trump’s racist video that superimposed a mustache and sombrero onto House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Taking to his X profile on Wednesday, Cruz indicated he would punish the 44 Senate Democrats who voted against the continuing resolution—which triggered a government shutdown—by placing sombreros and handlebar mustaches onto their photos. The two-minute-long video flashes altered photos of the Senators set to the 1993 pop song “Macarena.”
The idea appeared to be inspired by Trump’s recent AI-generated post mocking Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after their meeting in the Oval Office ahead of the shutdown to try and negotiate a deal. Trump’s video featured Jeffries, who is Black, as a stereotyped Mexican with a sombrero and mustache, alongside Schumer and a deepfake of Schumer’s voice. Jeffries called the video racist.
However, Vice President JD Vance excused the video as funny and claimed Trump was poking a little bit of fun at Democrats. Vance said he’d make a solemn promise that the sombrero memes will stop if the Democrats help Republicans reopen the government.
In keeping with the spirit of Vance’s promise, Cruz vowed to continue “Sombrero posting” as long as the shutdown remains. “The 44 Senate Democrats who voted for Schumer’s Shutdown should know that the Sombrero posting will continue until they re-open our government,” Cruz wrote in his Wednesday post.
The Independent has asked senators featured in the video for comment.
The Senate Democrats, joined by Republican Rand Paul and independent Bernie Sanders, voted against the continuing resolution on Tuesday evening out of protest because Republicans have refused to add Democrats-approved healthcare provisions to the temporary funding bill.
Democrats have blamed Republicans for the shutdown, saying they’re refusing to negotiate, thus backing them into a corner as they fight for those on Medicaid and low-income Americans using marketplace insurance.
Republicans have blamed Democrats for trying to add the healthcare provisions into an otherwise clean continuing resolution, meaning the bill does not seek to make dramatic changes to the current funding levels. Many Republicans have also falsely claimed Democrats want to give free health care to illegal aliens.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ted-cruz-shutdown-trolls-democrats-sombrero-b2838074.html