Ted Cruz Just Joked About Locking Up Beto O’Rourke

Seriously.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

At a get-out-the-vote event on Tuesday, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz joked that his Democratic challenger, Rep. Beto O’Rourke, should be thrown in jail with Hillary Clinton. Cruz made his remarks at a rally in Georgetown, Texas, one day after he joined President Donald Trump for a rally at an arena in Houston.

After Cruz attacked O’Rourke for opposing funding for Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defense project—a standard part of his stump speech—a woman in the audience shouted, “Lock him up!”

“Well, you know, there’s a double-occupancy cell with Hillary Clinton,” Cruz responded, while the audience applauded.

“Y’all are gonna get me in trouble with that,” he continued. “They’re not gonna cover anything about taxes or anything else, that’s gonna be the entire news broadcast.”

Cruz told voters last week that he is running to restore “civility and respect” to politics.

Watch it here:

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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