Ted Cruz angling to fill Trump's role as chief Twitter troll: analysis

On Saturday, writing for The Washington Post's "The Fix," Aaron Blake broke down how Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has stepped in to fill the role on Twitter that former president Donald Trump did before he was suspended.

"Cruz's Twitter feed and even his public persona have long been less formal and more in-your-face than most any other member of his party," noted Blake. "But of late he seems to have stepped up the effort, and that includes, much like Trump, latching onto undercooked claims and culture wars other Republicans have shied from."

Blake cited as examples a tweet in which Cruz said Biden has "crawled into bed with" Russian president Vladimir Putin, and other tweets in which he claimed the "wokeness" of the CIA and the military is putting the U.S. at a defense disadvantage — something that angered a number of veterans.

"Cruz also claimed last week, off Twitter, that Democrats' signature voting bill would register millions of undocumented immigrants to vote (it wouldn't). Despite the fact-checks, he doubled- down in an op-ed," said the report. "After he was caught nodding off during Biden's speech to Congress last month, he retweeted a misleading photo that showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Vice President [Kamala] Harris both with their eyes closed as if they too had been falling asleep. The photo instead showed them blinking at the same time."

Trump's ban from Twitter, and from other social media platforms, was due to his role in inciting the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Cruz is one of many GOP senators who voted to challenge the election results, an action that may also have encouraged the rioters.

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