Ted Cruz again tries to paint Democrats as the real racists -- and goes down in flames

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday once again tried to smear Democrats as the party of racism -- and got quickly shot down.

Writing on Twitter, Cruz bashed Senate Democrats for holding hearings on the history of racist laws passed in the Southern United States intended to discriminate against Black Americans.

"Impressive candor for Senate Dems to hold a hearing on the history of Jim Crow laws," Cruz wrote. "Bull Connor, Nathan Bedford Forrest (founder of KKK), George Wallace, Robert Byrd -- ALL Democrats. Dems wrote Jim Crow. Sadly, they've got a lot of expertise in bigotry and discrimination."

While Cruz is correct that Southern Democrats were responsible for writing Jim Crow laws, he neglects to mention that it was the Republicans who capitalized on the Southern backlash against the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s by pursuing the so-called "Southern Strategy" that successfully turned the South from a Democratic stronghold into a solidly Republican region.

And as one of Cruz's followers noted, it's now Republicans who are the ones protesting the removal of monuments dedicated to Forrest and other racist figures.

Cruz's tweet drew swift pushback -- check out some reactions below.