Advertisement
Tech

Ted Cruz shares Russian military propaganda, thinks U.S. troops are ‘pansies’ now

Cruz’s tweet sparked a heap of criticism.

Photo of Andrew Wyrich

Andrew Wyrich

Sen. Ted Cruz next to a tweet he sent where he called the U.S. military 'emasculated' and linked to a video of a Russian ad for its military.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is facing a heap of criticism after he criticized a U.S. military ad as being “woke” and “emasculated.”

Featured Video

Cruz, who people online were quick to point out supported former President Donald Trump after he badmouthed his wife, tweeted out a TikTok video that compared a Russian army ad to one made by the U.S. military.

The Russian ad looks like a Call of Duty game, with muscular men standing at attention in lines and jumping out of airplanes. Essentially, it is garden-variety military propaganda.

The U.S. ad is an animated story of a female service member highlighting being raised by two moms and attending rallies to promote equality, or as she describes it: “defending freedom from an early age.”

Advertisement

The service member ends the ad by saying “After meeting with an Army recruiter I found … a way to prove my inner strength.” The U.S. ad is one of several animated ads released by the Army recently.

While the U.S. military said the ads were meant to show “how five young Americans made the most important decision of their lives, for reasons as diverse as they are,” Cruz thought they were something different.

To Cruz, the U.S. military ads were “woke” (a favorite Republican talking point these days) and showed an “emasculated military.”

“Holy crap. Perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea….” Cruz tweeted on Thursday.

Advertisement

Cruz’s comments were quickly bashed online, with people pointing out that perhaps he shouldn’t be talking about people being “emasculated,” considering how he supported Trump even after the former president attacked how his wife looked.

https://twitter.com/Rschooley/status/1395529156281061377
https://twitter.com/StevePasquale/status/1395516203616047113
Advertisement
https://twitter.com/seankent/status/1395511043267469312

Others, like Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), pointed out that Cruz was sharing Russian propaganda.

“Holy crap. Perhaps a U.S. Senator shouldn’t suggest that the Russian military is better than the American military that protected him from an insurrection he helped foment?,” Duckworth, who served in the Army National Guard, tweeted.

Advertisement

And, like any time Cruz’s tweets ignite a firestorm online, his account liking a porn clip in 2017 also came up.

https://twitter.com/WhiteAF/status/1395502114260996097

Cruz eventually responded to the wave of criticism, saying that “lefty blue checkmarks” were “losing their minds” over his initial tweet. The Texas senator said he was not “attacking the military” but instead thought that “Dem politicians & woke media are trying to turn them into pansies.”

Advertisement

Read more of the Daily Dot’s tech and politics coverage

Nevada’s GOP secretary of state candidate follows QAnon, neo-Nazi accounts on Gab, Telegram
Court filing in Bored Apes lawsuit revives claims founders built NFT empire on Nazi ideology
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Say hi to the Donald for us’: Florida police briefed armed right-wing group before they went to Jan. 6 protest
Inside the Proud Boys’ ties to ghost gun sales
‘Judas’: Gab users are furious its founder handed over data to the FBI without a subpoena
EXCLUSIVE: Anti-vax dating site that let people advertise ‘mRNA FREE’ semen left all its user data exposed
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
 
The Daily Dot