Republican senator, who flew to Mexico as Texas faced deadly cold snap, complains of ‘serious security threats’ to lawmakers

Republican senator, who flew to Mexico as Texas faced deadly cold snap, complains of ‘serious security threats’ to lawmakers

The Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz, who achieved viral infamy in 2021 when he was seen at Houston airport for a flight to Cancún even as his state faced a historic and deadly spell of cold weather, this week moved a step closer to securing police escorts for lawmakers at airports.

Under an amendment to the Federal Aviation Authority Reauthorization bill introduced by Cruz, members of Congress and other prominent officials, and some family and staff members, will be offered security escorts if they are deemed “currently … or previously … the subject of a threat, as determined by such applicable federal protective agency”.

If passed by the House and Senate, the bill will fund the FAA for four years.

But given Cruz’s scrape with viral fame over his flight to Mexico in February 2021 – a trip to join a family vacation he abandoned after one day, admitting his “obvious mistake” as tweets and memes proliferated – the senator faces criticism and mockery over his attempt to secure security guards for future airport trips.

  • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
    2·
    9 months ago

    How is it a ridiculous comparison?

    I wasn’t saying that a senator or congressman is of the same importance as a president. After all, you won’t see the president at an airport.

    What I’m saying is it’s in the public interest for our elected representatives not to be subject to physical threat.

    If a senator is eating at a restaurant, and a person or group comes in who they view as a threat, they always have the option to leave. Often there are multiple points of ingress/egress. And they have the option to bring in as much security as they want.

    At an airport you can’t just leave unless you want to miss your flight. There are by design limited points to come in/out at an airport, and the terminals are usually dead ends so even if you wanted to leave it might not be possible if confronted by a group. And even if a person wanted to bring private security they don’t let people in unless you also buy tickets.

    • ShortBoweledClown
      2·
      9 months ago

      If you weren’t implying some sort of similarity, why bother making the comparison?

      If a senator or representative feels threatened, they can call the police or find security, just like the rest of us. Especially in an airport, they are everywhere.

      • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
        1·
        9 months ago

        I do imply they are similar, I didn’t say they were the same.

        Do you think that an elected official might have a higher risk of being threatened than a private citizen?

        • ShortBoweledClown
          1·
          9 months ago

          He chose to be a senator, if he feels it’s unsafe he can find a “safer” profession.

          Do you think that an elected official might have a higher risk of being threatened than a private citizen?

          No I don’t. There are a TON of elected officials that would not benefit from this change, so this isn’t so much protecting elected officials as it’s Cruz being too much a a fucking man child to handle criticism from the people he’s supposed to serve.