Despite the president’s vague language, many Republican leaders offered sharp and eloquent condemnations of the white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend. Among them were Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, both of whom are Cuban-American.
Cruz on Saturday called for the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the driver of a car that drove into a crowd of protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman. “The Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists are repulsive and evil, and all of us have a moral obligation to speak out against the lies, bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred that they propagate,” Cruz said.
Rubio called on President Trump to specifically condemn white supremacy, tweeting, “Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottseville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists.”
Nevertheless, New York Times investigative reporter Eric Lipton was not impressed, accusing the pair of putting on airs for future political gain. “Sorry to be cynical,” Lipton tweeted on Sunday, “but most of all Rubio and Ted Cruz to me seem mostly to be doing a tremendous job of posturing for 2020.”
Sorry to be cynical, but most of all Rubio and Ted Cruz to me seem mostly to be doing a tremendous job of posturing for 2020.
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) August 13, 2017
Decide for yourself why Lipton interpreted impassioned condemnations of white supremacy from two minority senators as “posturing.” For his part, Cruz didn’t let the accusation go unchallenged, scorching the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter in a series of tweets.
Gosh, you’re right. Because Nazis & the Klan have such love for Cuban-Americans. If only we worked for a paper that shilled for Stalin…. https://t.co/PBsFqauXq2
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 14, 2017
“Gosh, you’re right,” he responded on Sunday. “Because Nazis & the Klan have such love for Cuban-Americans. If only we worked for a paper that shilled for Stalin….”
I know it’s hard to understand. Too many schools don’t teach NYT’s shameful history covering up Soviet atrocities: https://t.co/q3mtRxX2BG https://t.co/4yaGty7yhX
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 14, 2017
Cruz continued, “I know it’s hard to understand. Too many schools don’t teach NYT’s shameful history covering up Soviet atrocities,” attaching a link to the Wikipedia article on Walter Duranty, a New York Times journalist who ignored the famine suffered under Josef Stalin in his Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting from the USSR.
Cruz and Rubio were loud and clear on the violence in Virginia, but even that was suspect to Lipton. By the way, neither senator is up for re-election in 2020, so either Lipton’s math is wrong, or his tweet was predicated on the strange assumption that the senators are interested in challenging President Trump in a primary.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
