Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), when asked Wednesday on CNN whether he would accept the results of the 2024 presidential election, responded by calling it a “ridiculous question,” further exemplifying how Trump-allied Republicans have refused to commit to honoring the outcome of the race.
In an interview with The Source anchor Kaitlan Collins, Cruz sidestepped the simple prompt in the same vein as Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) did before him.
“In 2024,” Collins asked, “will you certify the election results? Do you plan to object or will you accept the results regardless of who wins the election?”
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Cruz, who voted to reject the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, 2021, replied: “So Kaitlan, I’ve got to say I think that’s actually a ridiculous question.”
When Collins told him that it was really just a “yes or no question,” Cruz insisted it somehow was more nuanced.
“Let me explain why it’s a ridiculous question. It’s not a question—you ever ask a Democrat that?” asked Cruz, who had a similar response to a Texas Monthly reporter on the subject earlier this month.
“Of course,” Collins said, after which Cruz asked who.
“I know, I know, I’ve been down this road many times,” Collins said, seeming a bit exasperated.
“You cannot compare the two situations. We have talked about that. We have seen the audio of that when they protested on the Senate floor, but have you ever had a sitting president who refused to facilitate the peaceful transition of power?” she asked him.
Cruz then echoed another line that has become popular on the right: Joe Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021, so ultimately “we did have a peaceful transfer of power.”
“I was there on January 20. I was there on the swearing-in,” said Cruz, who on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection called it a “terrorist attack.”
After the Texas senator was promptly scolded by then-Fox News host and Jan. 6 conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson, he seems to have changed his approach to be more Trump-friendly in an election year where he too is on the ballot.
Changing tact, he described his comments as “sloppy” and “frankly dumb.”
“It would be ridiculous for me to be saying that the people standing up and protesting to follow the law were somehow terrorists,” he said. “I was talking about people who commit violence against cops.”
