On Tuesday, with impeachment proceedings underway in the Senate, a tweet appeared from Senator Ted Cruz, provoking former Clinton White House press secretary and current CNN political analyst Joe Lockhart to trumpet that Cruz had violated the rules of the Senate and that Twitter should investigate him. Cruz’s reply was one for the ages.
Cruz triggered Lockhart by tweeting, “NEWSFLASH for Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff: @realDonaldTrump invoking Constitutional privilege is not obstruction of Congress. If it were, nearly every president would have committed impeachable conduct.”
NEWSFLASH for Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff: @realDonaldTrump invoking Constitutional privilege is not obstruction of Congress.
If it were, nearly every president would have committed impeachable conduct. pic.twitter.com/lWeV32MxWH
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 21, 2020
Lockhart, apparently breathless with excitement, responded on Twitter, “Senators on the floor are sworn to silence and have no electronic devices. So how is this Senator tweeting? Did he sneak a phone in. Is he willing to go to prison? Or is the tweet from someone other than Cruz. @jack you should investigate.”
Senators on the floor are sworn to silence and have no electronic devices. So how is this Senator tweeting? Did he sneak a phone in. Is he willing to go to prison? Or is the tweet from someone other than Cruz. @jack you should investigate
— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) January 21, 2020
Before we get to Cruz’s response, which not only won Twitter for the day, it might have won it for the week or the month, let’s check out a few other responses to Lockhart’s desperate attempt to target Cruz as we build to Cruz’s response:
If you're going to be the enforcer on this I think you'll end up staying pretty busy. https://t.co/knbnEkxPAS
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) January 21, 2020
This was an interesting one to send out during the hearing. But he can explain that to the police you send his way! https://t.co/GfBC86M5Q7
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) January 21, 2020
O
KB
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M
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R— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) January 21, 2020
You cover politics and aren't smart enough to realize aides have access to their bosses twitter accts?
Embarrassing.
— Noah (@reeb1011) January 21, 2020
And now, Cruz’s classic Texas response:
https://t.co/FNTogu1IUt pic.twitter.com/cuO8Sz5Vls
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 21, 2020
Cruz, a student of history, was making an obvious reference of Texas to the Battle of Gonzales in 1835 in the Texas revolution against Mexico. In that battle, when Texans resisted the Mexican forces who outnumbered them and intended to take their cannon, the Texans created a flag on which “come and take it” was emblazoned along with a black star. Replicas of the original flag can be found all over Texas, from the state capitol to the Texas State History Museum to the University of Texas to Sam Houston State University.
In all likelihood, Cruz is also aware of another time in American history in which the phrase “come and take it” was used: Fort Morris in Georgia during the Revolutionary War, where British soldiers outnumbered the 127 Continental soldiers plus militiamen and local citizens and demanded the Americans’ surrender in a written note. American Colonel John McIntosh issued a response in which he stated, “As to surrendering the fort, receive this laconic reply: COME AND TAKE IT!”
Cruz has been on a roll lately; on Sunday, he mocked House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s pronouncement that President Donald Trump will be “impeached forever,” responding that by the time the Senate is done with the trial, Trump would be “acquitted forever of these bogus charges.” Last week, after Pelosi celebrated sending off the articles of impeachment by smiling and offering taxpayer-funded golden pens to those who attended, Cruz had a golden response of his own characterizing the Democrats as buffoonish and childish, which he sent via Twitter: “Given the circus in the House, I’m surprised she didn’t use crayons.”
Just before that, after Senator Elizabeth Warren suggested that on the first day in office after she were elected president, she would cancel student loan debt for up to 42 million Americans and simply ignore what Congress had to say about it, Cruz fired back, “Which clause of the Constitution gives a President the authority to give away a trillion $ w/o Congress? And if you like this policy, how would you feel if/when a GOP president does it for something you don’t like? Here’s a better idea: follow the Const & don’t be a dictator.”
H/T Twitchy