Nicolle Wallace panel slams Ted Cruz for 'embracing white nationalism as a cute way to win'

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) dodged questions about his relationships with extremist groups in Texas this week. The backlash is around the latest Cruz scandal, his link to a group called True Texas Project. The group refers to Black people as "felons," "rapists," and "looters."

In his non-answer, Cruz said that he can't be up on the latest tweets from every Texan, which MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace called out Friday during her panel. She noted the Washington Post report this week that said that Cruz's father, who often serves as a campaign surrogate for his son, appeared at a meeting of the group at a time when they were celebrating the Jan. 6 attack.

Speaking to Wallace, Professor Jason Johnson explained that the only real way to get rid of these people is to beat them at the polls.

"This is what's always really bothered me about Ted Cruz from a political standpoint," Johnson explained. "There are people like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) who I believe have white nationalist sentiments. They believe America is a homeland for white Christian people. I don't know that I think Ted Cruz believes in this stuff. I think Ted Cruz will do anything to make people like him and as we saw during the Texas crisis, even his neighbors don't like him. They released his family's texts. That's the problem."

Johnson also said that it isn't that the U.S. has a white nationalist problem, because that has always been with the United States, it's that there are people like Ted Cruz, who are "ambitious politicians who think embracing white nationalism is a cute way to win."

"We cannot make those people feel better, can't change their mind if you give them universal healthcare," said Johnson. "You have to make it financially difficult to maintain those white nationalist beliefs and you have to hold them accountable whenever they break the law and that is the only way to stop them. Ted Cruz will keep doing this as long as he thinks it's going to help him politically so he has to face consequences at the ballot box and in his pocketbook and anybody else who's associated with him."

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