Thursday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, failed presidential candidate and former Rep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke blamed Sen. Ted Cruz for what O’Rourke falsely called a “coup attempt” at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
“[U]nless we hold those responsible accountable for what they did and yes, that means Donald Trump, but it also means the junior senator from the state of Texas — who I understand is vacationing in Cancun right now when people are literally freezing to death in the state that he was elected to represent and serve — when Ted Cruz helps to incite that sedition, seeks to overturn a lawfully, legitimately, democratically-decided election, he is just as culpable for the insurrection, the coup attempt, the deaths, including of Capitol police officers who were trying to defend his life and the lives of others who serve in our Capitol,” O’Rourke blathered.
Fact checks: 1) Cruz was not vacationing in Cancun. He accompanied his daughters on a flight there and returned the next day; 2) There was no sedition, insurrection, or coup attempt at the Capitol; 3) While it is tragic that 3 police officers died, none of them died the day of the Capitol chaos. Two later committed suicide, suggesting underlying problems that may or may not have had anything to do with the Jan. 6 incident, and a third died of medical causes of which the details are unclear; there is no evidence yet that his death stemmed from the incident, either. O’Rourke, and the activist media enablers at MSNBC, are despicably exploiting the cops’ tragedies to imply that all three were attacked and killed during the chaos, and to weaponize their deaths against Sen. Cruz.
“If these folks are not held accountable; if Ted Cruz is not expelled, he’s not forced to resign, then what you have done is you have set the precedent that it is OK to try to overturn an election, to try to overturn our government,” the anti-Second Amendment pipsqueak continued. “And the proudest democracy on the face of the planet will become a memory if we do not fight for it right now.”
Fact check: Cruz had nothing to do with the chaos on Capitol Hill, which in turn had nothing to do with overturning the government but initially was about protesting a fraudulent election. O’Rourke is a liar who cares nothing about “the proudest democracy” on earth, but about seizing political power.