Ted Cruz, Who Joked Yesterday About Locking Up His Opponent, Renews Call for Civility in Politics

“America is better than this.”

Daisuke Tomita /AP

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

After another round of reports of explosives being sent to prominent Democratic figures, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz issued a statement condemning the attempted bombings and—as he has done with increasing frequency during his tight reelection campaign—calling for a de-escalation of political rhetoric:

“Political disagreements are fine, even healthy, but we should always be civil and respect each other’s humanity,” he tweeted.

A day earlier, Cruz joked about throwing his Democratic opponent, Rep. Beto O’Rourke, in a prison cell with Hillary Clinton. And on Monday, he appeared at a rally in Houston with President Donald Trump, who ran for office in part on the idea of prosecuting his political rival. In his speech, Trump suggested that a group of Central American asylum seekers were a violent mob (if not in fact terrorists) who were sent to the United States by Democrats. Last week, Trump praised Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte for body-slamming a reporter who was trying to ask a question about health care.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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