Ted Cruz Jokes to Oil Lobbyists About Eating Someone’s Son

“I was really tempted to tweet, ‘He was delicious,'” he said.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Ted Cruz’s patented brand of awkward dad humor was on display last week when he spoke to members of the American Petroleum Institute in Houston. The Republican senator, who is in the fight of his political life in deep-red Texas, has been increasingly soliciting support from Republicans to fend off impassioned Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. 

Here’s what happened at the event, per the New York Times

“When there’s extreme anger and hatred on the other side, don’t respond in kind,” Mr. Cruz told the audience beneath the glittering chandeliers. “Have fun. Be a joyful warrior.” He recalled encountering a Twitter handle, “Ted Cruz ate my son.” “I was really tempted to tweet, ‘He was delicious,'” he said.

Given that large segments of the internet believe—jokingly, we hope—that Cruz is a serial killer, it’s probably in the best interests of his Twitter mentions that he restrained from airing a joke about cannibalism. 

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate