Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took offense to being mentioned in a joke on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah on Wednesday, and struck back on Twitter, igniting one the most comical internet beefs of the year.
The social media feud appeared to stem from a show segment of Noah expressing concern with the latest Census results. The state of New York State fell just 89 residents shy of retaining all 27 of its congressional seats for the next decade. As a result, New York will lose a seat in Congress, while Texas receives two additional seats.
“You’re telling me that if 89 more New Yorkers would have filled out their Census, the state wouldn't have lost a seat in Congress?” Noah lamented.
Moments later, Noah quipped that the U.S. population grew at its slowest rate since the Great Depression, “primarily due to this photo,” the comedian said, flashing a homely image of Cruz.
Hours after clips of the show debuted online, the Texas senator tweeted that Noah was whining about being out of touch with people “who like freedom.”
“Trevor Noah whines that people are fleeing high-tax blue states & moving in droves to low-tax states like Texas, where the jobs are. Doesn’t understand why people like freedom. Also predicts the Biden years will be the Great Depression,” he wrote.
Trevor Noah whines that people are fleeing high-tax blue states & moving in droves to low-tax states like Texas, where the jobs are.
Doesn’t understand why people like freedom.
Also predicts the Biden years will be the Great Depression. https://t.co/aNewrWtme1
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 28, 2021
The Daily Show's Twitter account clapped back at Cruz, saying it wasn't wise for the senator to bring up fleeing states since he left on a trip to Cancun earlier this year during a historic deadly winter storm in Texas.
"Not sure I'd be using the words 'fleeing' and 'Texas' in the same sentence, Senator Cancun,” the show’s Twitter account wrote.
Not sure I'd be using the words "fleeing" and "Texas" in the same sentence, Senator Cancun https://t.co/hgRsrN11vQ
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) April 28, 2021
As Blavity previously reported, Cruz was blasted by local residents and people on social media for leaving the state despite millions of Texans suffering after the widespread loss of electricity and water.
"With school canceled for the rest of the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon," Cruz said.
As a response, the 50-year-old senator proceeded to tell the comedian that he wasn’t a good show host.
“I wear your scorn with pride. I remember when The Daily Show was funny,” he replied.
I wear your scorn with pride.
I remember when the Daily Show was funny. https://t.co/swFSRNnTwc
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 28, 2021
In a hilarious tweet, Cruz was reminded that he put up more of a fight over a joke about the Texas government than he did when former President Donald Trump insulted his wife.
“And with that,” Noah tweeted, “Ted Cruz has officially fought back harder against a tweet from a late night show than he ever did when Trump called his wife ugly.”
And with that Ted Cruz has officially fought back harder against a tweet from a late night show than he ever did when Trump called his wife ugly https://t.co/auWBOXEebh
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) April 28, 2021
In a disastrous September 2020 interview with Chris Cuomo, the journalist also reminded Cruz that it was Trump who insulted his wife and called him a liar, Newsweek reports.
"Why don't you talk to the president like you talk to my brother? You afraid of him? You think he'll smack you down at home?" Cuomo asked. "My brother's not the president. I'm talking about the president. The one who called you a liar, the one who said your wife was ugly!"