Sen. Ted Cruz got into a tussle with experts on Saturday — and it did not end well for the Texas Republican.
It started when the GOP senator was complaining about being labeled "Kremlin Cruz" by MSNBC's Brian Williams for sharing Russian propaganda.
Cruz said it couldn't be true, because he hates communists.
That resulted in historian Kevin Kruse asking if Cruz thought communists currently run the Kremlin.
"Yes, Colonel Vladimir Putin of the KGB is—and always has been—a communist," Cruz argued.
Russian expert Tom Nichols, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, took exception with Cruz's claim.
"I've written a few books on Russia and am one of those experts on the Soviet and Russian era you seem to want to avoid. If you have questions about communists and why Putin isn't one, I can answer that for you, unless you just want to stick with the McCarthyism," Nichols posted to Twitter.
Nichols is the author of books The Sacred Cause: Civil-Military Conflict over Soviet National Security, 1917-1992 (published in 1993), The Russian Presidency: Society and Politics in the Second Russian Republic (published in 1999), The Russian Presidency: Society and Politics in the Second Russian Republic (published in 2002), and The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters (published in 2017).
Hi, @tedcruz - I've written a few books on Russia and am one of those experts on the Soviet and Russian era you see… https://t.co/mmhvCz162p— Tom Nichols (@Tom Nichols) 1621718786.0
Do ... do you think communists currently run the Kremlin, senator? https://t.co/7NcNbnzSOZ— Kevin M. Kruse (@Kevin M. Kruse) 1621690824.0
Watch Brian Williams on "Cancun Cruz" and "Kremlin Cruz" after the senator's "remarkably stupid lapse in judgement':
Ted Cruz Roundly Criticized After Sharing Russian Propaganda www.youtube.com
