An old tweet from GOP Sen. Ted Cruz criticizing California’s energy policies went viral on Monday as the senator’s own state, Texas, reeled from a massive snowstorm that knocked out power to more than 4 million homes and businesses.
Cruz’s August 2020 post had taken aim at a tweet from the Office of the Governor of California, which urged residents to conserve energy by turning off lights, limiting the usage of electrical appliances and adjusting thermostats.
At the time, California was gripped by a major heat wave and implementing its first rolling power blackouts since 2001.
“California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity,” Cruz wrote back then.
The senator also claimed that supporters of the Green New Deal ― like President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, then campaigning for the White House, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) ― wanted “to make CA’s failed energy policy the standard nationwide.”
As Monday’s extreme snow and freezing temperatures caused Texas to implement its own rolling blackouts, multiple commentators referenced Cruz’s old tweet, pointing out that the senator was perfectly happy to criticize California last August but noticeably quiet when it came to the emergency measures affecting his own state.
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As of Tuesday, outages in Texas were expected to last the full day for most affected homes and businesses. A representative for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas told a local ABC station that only about 10-15% of those customers were expected to get power back by mid-afternoon.