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You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / Cruz-ifiction / Repub ‘Virtus’ Open Thread: Ted Cruz Prefers His Army Masculine, Buffed — and Russian

Repub ‘Virtus’ Open Thread: Ted Cruz Prefers His Army Masculine, Buffed — and Russian

by Anne Laurie|  May 21, 202111:14 am| 37 Comments

This post is in: Cruz-ifiction, Military, Open Threads, Republican Venality

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Do you have any other Russian propaganda videos you’d like to promote, senator?

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 20, 2021

Ted’s local Houston Chronicle:

Sen. Ted Cruz criticized the U.S. military for being “emasculated” compared to the Russian military in a tweet on Thursday…

“Research tells us that young people today see the Army as a ‘distant star’ — a place requiring a nearly superhuman level of discipline with little relevance to their daily lives,” Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, Chief of Army Enterprise Marketing, said in a statement about the campaign when it was announced. “Similarly, youth don’t necessarily connect with those who serve or see common ground in terms of interests, abilities, and goals. ‘The Calling’ shatters these misperceptions by showing that soldiers are all of us: real people with hopes, dreams, fears, aspirations, families, friends, and obstacles to overcome.”

Cruz’s tweet sparked some outrage on Thursday.

“Ted Cruz attacks a US Army soldier for telling her story, says he prefers Russians. Because Ted Cruz is a sedition-loving traitor,” VoteVets, a progressive political group, tweeted.

“The U.S. military is second to none. Please keep it out of your political theater,” tweeted Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who was a key witness in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment inquiry. “I hear there are actual problems Congress needs to address. BTW didn’t you swear to support and defend the U.S. Constitution?”

Another Ted ‘Cruz-ifiction’ own goal!

Perhaps he should be thanking these badass women?

(?: Bloomberg @business) pic.twitter.com/Y57SeoaYL4

— Tammy Duckworth (@TammyDuckworth) May 20, 2021

but no obviously the key to a strong national defense is to mock people who actually signed the dotted line and pretend this cosplay motherfucker is audie murphy pic.twitter.com/4zgCA6LxEU

— Zd (@Zeddary) May 20, 2021

and for the record there are still plenty of “be all you can be” camo-waving commercials out there. *amazingly* the u.s. military understands the little-known fact that different messages are needed for different audiences

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) May 20, 2021

Most importantly, a US congressman piling on *with the Russian government* to mock a person that chose to wear our uniform and defend our country is reprehensible. https://t.co/dTIkRI8oWZ

— Blake Herzinger (@BDHerzinger) May 21, 2021

this is dumb https://t.co/qMcfIfdBF4

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) May 20, 2021

hey buddy there are zero fucking obstacles between you and the recruiting station. zero. i checked.

— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) May 20, 2021

some interesting context on the “russian army recruitment video” being widely praised by the american right wing, including u.s. senators

note that the official video has a pretty light touch https://t.co/H1mvhyu8j5

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) May 21, 2021

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Reader Interactions

37Comments

  1. 1.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 21, 2021 at 11:48 am

    Nice collection of tweets, AL!

    I have been trying to think of something to say about this, and it’s hard to know where to start. Cruz’s admiration of those muscular hunks? John Noonan’s descent from thoughtful conservative to Tom Cotton staffer? One more move in the culture war? Smearing an American corporal to make a political point?

    SMDH

  2. 2.

    yellowdog

    May 21, 2021 at 11:48 am

    That US Army video was directed by the son of a good friend.

  3. 3.

    Parfigliano

    May 21, 2021 at 11:49 am

    Surely I cant be FIRST to say Ted Cruz is an asshole.

  4. 4.

    MisterForkbeard

    May 21, 2021 at 11:51 am

    I don’t really know how to approach this. Fascist rightwing conservatives like brawny, muscular men? Check. Showing Russian propaganda? Check. Attacking our own military in favor of praising Russians again? Check.

    There’s more in there too – like the fact that the whole thing is dishonest. There are a lot of other ads that are very hoo-rah America, but they want to focus on a single ad that targets minorities and tries to get more volunteers into the armed forces.

    What it boils down to is that they’re traitors with a fixation on handsome dudes, but we already knew that.

  5. 5.

    Geeno

    May 21, 2021 at 11:55 am

    @Parfigliano: Well, you are in this thread.

  6. 6.

    Hildebrand

    May 21, 2021 at 11:55 am

    Are our intelligence agencies investigating the seemingly ubiquitous Russian influence scheme in the Republican Party?

  7. 7.

    The Thin Black Duke

    May 21, 2021 at 11:57 am

    Chicken hawk gonna chicken hawk.

  8. 8.

    dexwood

    May 21, 2021 at 11:57 am

    @Parfigliano: It can never be pointed out too many times. An asshole, a traitor, a fascist.

  9. 9.

    Smedley the uncertain

    May 21, 2021 at 12:04 pm

    There is no explanation for this other than Cruz is a full blown Russian Propagandist.  Weren’t they known as Fifth Columnists back in the day?

  10. 10.

    laura

    May 21, 2021 at 12:04 pm

    I hope to live long enough to see just how far bent over a barrel each and every republican legislator is, due to ties to Russia, be it crushing on a big red daddy, or russian money, or kompromat. I’m not picky, we could start with the stolen GOP emails, or the 4th of July trip to Moscow, or foriegn funds washed through the NRA, or “consulting” with oligarchs….

  11. 11.

    MattF

    May 21, 2021 at 12:06 pm

    I guess one can ask who, exactly, Cruz is pandering to here… but it’s not worth the effort. It’s a long road to the bottom– just bear in mind that Cruz was the golden boy of his generation of R politicians. And his Presidential ambitions were squashed, effortlessly, by TFG.

  12. 12.

    Matt McIrvin

    May 21, 2021 at 12:08 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: The American hoo-rah ads probably also show people who are not white men, though, which is a large part of the subtext here. (well, “woke, emasculated” is hardly subtext.)

  13. 13.

    TomatoQueen

    May 21, 2021 at 12:15 pm

    @Smedley the uncertain: Mr Moshpotato would possibly suggest something on the order of Soviet Shitpile Mobster Conman. I think.

  14. 14.

    SFAW

    May 21, 2021 at 12:25 pm

    As Blake Herzinger noted above, this is pretty rich coming from a candy-ass who refused to defend his wife against the insults from an even bigger candy-ass.

    I’m a lifelong devout atheist, but sometimes I truly wish a Just God existed, because the result would be a smoking hole* where Cruz stood moments before.

    * In the ground, of course. Cruz is already a smoking asshole.

  15. 15.

    Gravenstone

    May 21, 2021 at 12:25 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Did no one tell Mr. Noonan that we’ve lost wars with a far less “tolerant” military in the past? So I highly doubt that plays any role in outcomes.

  16. 16.

    Raoul Paste

    May 21, 2021 at 12:27 pm

    I thought the best rejoinder was how Cruz was a  weak, emasculated suck-up after TFG insulted his wife and father

    Edit:   Someone beat me to it

  17. 17.

    J R in WV

    May 21, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    Despicable traitors all~!~ Every Republican officeholder with any prominence appears to be fallen in love with despotism, and to be under the total control of the Russian GRU.

    On a different topic, more uplifting, yesterday was Wife’s and my 50th wedding anniversary — unbelievable, isn’t it? So as fully vaccinated persons, we went to a local independent bookshop, where wife went wild, and then out to dinner for the first time since fall of 2019, when wife fell in the rock garden and broke two ribs. Yes, she fell in the fall…

    Then at dinner we noticed two neighbors also celebrating their anniversary, we’ve bumped into them at that restaurant on this date a couple of times. I went over and told them “We’ve got to stop meeting like this, someone will notice!” Grins, was also their first time out in a long long time. Dinner was great, also too.

    I am an optimist, so I can’t help but expect that Russian Fifth Columnists won’t be able to do serious damage to our Democracy. They’re weak and have no ideas to compete with the foundations of Democracy… most people find them to be despicable shallow pawns of foreign enemies. Easy to reject… We hope!

  18. 18.

    RiChard

    May 21, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    I have to wonder how many times Ted has watched ‘300’.

  19. 19.

    SaltWaterCleanse

    May 21, 2021 at 12:36 pm

    The pic inthe  Zd tweet showing all those worthless shitheads in the boat is a near perfect representation of the demise of our nation. Mediocre, out-of-shape (probably never been in shape since HS if even then), clueless, morons playing at being important and adventurous.

    It reminds me so much of my career in aerospace back in the day. I assumed the thick-waisted, middle-aged, white guys with deep voices, and shiny watches were managers and “in charge” bcz they were smart, driven, hard-working, tough, and filled with business/engineering acumen. Turns out they were just pathetic, soft, insecure, big-talking, doughy pieces of stupid flesh. Wish I could go back in time and tell them all to suck my dick.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    May 21, 2021 at 12:45 pm

    @SaltWaterCleanse: Visualization gets good results in sports training, perhaps it would also work here!

  21. 21.

    Skepticat

    May 21, 2021 at 12:58 pm

    @Parfigliano: ​
     

    Nor will you be the last.

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    May 21, 2021 at 1:03 pm

    Hey @CalmSporting, there are lots of things standing in the way of little teddy joining the military.

    First, he’s way out of shape. Now that can be fixed, and often is. But is it worth the effort here?

    Second, IQ. Little teddy seems to not have enough. That’s really not fixable.

    Third, ability to reason and follow. He’s got the follow part down, the reason part is non existent.

    Fourth, personality. No one would want to serve with that shithead. We had one of these in boot camp. It took him about 2 weeks to get everyone else hating his very presence by refusing to shower with everyone else. He lost any concept of having a buddy of any kind and got himself a scrub brush and lye soap shower. And those are not intended to clean, only to teach those who can not belong to a group of humans that they don’t. I imagine that the rest of his 4 yrs was along the same lines of fun.

  23. 23.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 8

    May 21, 2021 at 1:05 pm

    Cruz probably has one of those “Better Russian than Democrat” shirts in his closet.

  24. 24.

    Ruckus

    May 21, 2021 at 1:08 pm

    @Parfigliano:

    Maybe in this post.

    In reality, not even close. I’m not sure but I’d bet his kids say that regularly. I never understood the concept of a dad trying to be a negative example for the kids. Being one sure, knowingly practicing at it constantly seems to be a whole other thing.

  25. 25.

    Ruckus

    May 21, 2021 at 1:09 pm

    @RobertDSC-iPhone 8:

    Bet he has a few and wears them as undershirts. Just so he can feel like himself at all times.

  26. 26.

    Calouste

    May 21, 2021 at 1:27 pm

    @Gravenstone: The Romans ran a mighty empire for a thousand years by signing up anyone willing to hold a sword. Then they made Christianity the state religion and within a century Rome was sacked by barbarians.

  27. 27.

    Steve in the ATL

    May 21, 2021 at 1:38 pm

    @Hildebrand: no worries—we have the crack FBI NY field office on the case!

  28. 28.

    Mike G

    May 21, 2021 at 1:39 pm

    Once again we see how a garbage organization with garbage ideology like the Republican Party, chooses garbage people as leaders.

    And we’ll hear not a peep against Calgary Rafael from the performative-nationalist “Support Thuh Troopz” assclowns

  29. 29.

    russell

    May 21, 2021 at 1:57 pm

    I know a young woman currently in active service Army who was ‘raised by two mommies’ – actually her mother and her aunt.  She herself is gay.

    She’s a total bad-ass.  I’m not worried about our ’emasculated’ armed services.

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    May 21, 2021 at 2:18 pm

    Every female, gay, and transgender person serving in the military is already doing more than Cruz, who never served anywhere, anytime.

  31. 31.

    Philbert

    May 21, 2021 at 2:24 pm

    @Calouste: Exactly, when the temples were closed, the gods said ‘Fine, have fun with the Germans! ‘

  32. 32.

    Yutsano

    May 21, 2021 at 4:31 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Cruz’s admiration of those muscular hunks?

    EWWWW!!! GROSS! NO THANK YOU!
    He’s all yours. We’re not taking responsibility!

  33. 33.

    Steeplejack

    May 21, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    @J R in WV:

    Happy anniversary! ???

  34. 34.

    Matt McIrvin

    May 21, 2021 at 7:22 pm

    I look at the Russian ad and my first thought is that that is a scary fash army that is going to ethnically cleanse their own country at the first opportunity. It’s unfair to the Russians, I admit–the main reason for that is that these are a crowd of skinheaded uniformly white guys, and when you see a big crowd of these in the United States it means trouble. But I also wonder if that same vibe is precisely what is attracting Cruz.

  35. 35.

    Mary G

    May 21, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    @J R in WV: Wow at 50 years with Mrs. J.R.!

    Congratulations and may you have many more.

  36. 36.

    Tehanu

    May 21, 2021 at 11:30 pm

    @Calouste: ​
      Your historical view is wildly out of date as well as being, um, wrong. The Romans were reactionary exploiters and the ‘barbarians’ were, often, far more civilized and moral.

  37. 37.

    droog

    May 22, 2021 at 12:50 pm

    Brian Williams on MSNBC had a segment calling him “Kremlin Cruz”. I’m sorry but i can’t join in that mockery…

    …it doesn’t have a nice ring to it.

     

     

    Ted Cruzhchev. Spread the word.

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