Texas Senator Ted Cruz has drawn widespread criticism on social media after calling the U.S. military "woke" and "emasculated" while comparing it to Russia's military in a tweet on Thursday. In a follow-up tweet, he referred to the U.S. military as "pansies."
The Republican lawmaker retweeted a TikTok video showing a comparison of ad campaigns of the Russian military as opposed to the U.S. military.
The clip starts off with an ad for the Russian military, showing male soldiers training, suiting up, jumping out of an airplane and loading a gun. The ad is followed by an animated ad for the U.S. military about US Army Corporal Emma Malonelord, who was "raised by two moms" and "marched for equality" as a kid. Malonelord says in the video that she joined the Army to "prove my inner strength."
"Holy crap," Cruz wrote in the tweet. "Perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea...,"
Twitter Reactions
Cruz's tweet instantly sparked outrage with users calling the senator out for talking about emasculation given that he supported Donald Trump even after the former president called Cruz's wife, Heidi Cruz, ugly, implied that Cruz's fatherwas somehow involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and even referred to him as "Lyin Ted."
Meanwhile others criticized Cruz for spreading Russian propaganda and attacking active duty personnel when he has never even served in the military.
Cruz Refers to US Military Personnel as 'Pansies'
Following the backlash, Cruz posted another tweet clarifying that he was not "attacking the military" and we have the "greatest military on earth" before adding that the Democrats and woke media are trying to turn them into "pansies."
"I'm enjoying lefty blue checkmarks losing their minds over this tweet, dishonestly claiming that I'm 'attacking the military,'" he wrote. "Uh, no. We have the greatest military on earth, but Dem politicians & woke media are trying to turn them into pansies. The new Dem videos are terrible."
However, netizens continued to slam the Texas senator for calling military personnel "pansies" when he jetted off to Cancun for a family vacation while many of his constituents were stuck at home, struggling to cope with power outages and frigid conditions amid a devastating winter storm.
