Politics

Ted Cruz tried to insult his gay law school classmate. It backfired immediately.

Cruz has long been loathed by his colleagues. Apparently that goes back to when he was in school.
By
CA Sen. Scott Wiener/Sen. Ted Cruz
CA Sen. Scott Wiener/Sen. Ted Cruz Photo: CalMatters/Anne Wernikoff, Palm Springs Desert Sun via Imagn Content Services, LLC/Shutterstock

Out California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) attended Harvard Law School along with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the mid-’90s, and he brought up Cruz’s bad reputation from back in the day when Cruz falsely accused him of sending people naked pictures.

Wiener was discussing an article about federal appeals court nominee Adeel Mangi, who, if confirmed, would be the first Muslim American federal appeals court judge in history. The article said the Senate might not have the votes to confirm Mangi.

Related:

Ted Cruz mocked for sharing fake article about LGBTQ people & refusing to apologize

“I blame my gullibility on my extremely distorted perception of liberals” isn’t the flex you think it is.

The CNN article mentioned that Cruz is one of the opponents of Mangi’s confirmation. Cruz brought up Mangi’s connection to the Center for Security, Race, and Rights at Rutgers University, an organization that Cruz accused of antisemitism.

During his confirmation hearing, Cruz asked Mangi to “condemn the atrocities of the Hamas terrorists,” something often asked of Muslim Americans, as if they are likely to support terrorism. Mangi responded that the October 7 attacks “were a horror involving the deaths of innocent civilians.” But Cruz pressed him further, as if Mangi was going to justify the attacks.

“This is straight up Islamophobia,” Wiener, who is Jewish, posted on X. “This nominee is highly qualified. Ted Cruz grilled him about October 7. That’s no different than grilling a Jewish nominee about Israel’s conduct of the war.”

“Are they asking other nominees these questions? Of course not. Only the Muslim nominee.”

Cruz responded by accusing Wiener of getting “thrown out of Congress for sending naked pictures of himself.” Wiener has never been in Congress—he is a state senator—and Cruz may have been thinking of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who spells his name differently and is from the other side of the country.

Moreover, it’s odd that Cruz made the mistake, considering he went to law school with Scott Wiener.

But Wiener wasn’t fazed.

“Ted, remember when we went to law school together & everyone hated you?” he clapped back.

Mangi’s appointment to federal court has the support of the Anti-Defamation League.

“As the Anti-Defamation League made clear, the debunked rightwing smear campaign against Mr. Mangi is ‘profoundly wrong,’” a White House spokesperson said when asked about the possibility that Mangi won’t be confirmed. “Mr. Mangi was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the White House continues to fight for his confirmation and to repudiate the vicious hate and bigotry with which he has been targeted because of his Muslim faith.”

While Democrats hold the majority in the Senate, CNN reports that some Senate Democrats may not support his confirmation.

Cruz has long been maligned by his colleagues. A BBC article from 2016 says that his colleagues and former classmates called him “abrasive,” “creepy,” and “arrogant.”

In 2016, after Cruz defended a Texas state bill against adult “self-stimulation” devices, Cruz’s freshman-year roommate from Princeton University, Craig Mazin, wrote via social media, “Ted Cruz thinks people don’t have the right to ‘stimulate their genitals.’ I was his college roommate. That would be a new belief of his.”

Out California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) attended Harvard Law School along with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the mid-’90s, and he brought up Cruz’s bad reputation from back in the day when Cruz falsely accused him of sending people naked pictures.

Wiener was discussing an article about federal appeals court nominee Adeel Mangi, who, if confirmed, would be the first Muslim American federal appeals court judge in history. The article said the Senate might not have the votes to confirm Mangi.

Related:

Ted Cruz mocked for sharing fake article about LGBTQ people & refusing to apologize

“I blame my gullibility on my extremely distorted perception of liberals” isn’t the flex you think it is.

The CNN article mentioned that Cruz is one of the opponents of Mangi’s confirmation. Cruz brought up Mangi’s connection to the Center for Security, Race, and Rights at Rutgers University, an organization that Cruz accused of antisemitism.

During his confirmation hearing, Cruz asked Mangi to “condemn the atrocities of the Hamas terrorists,” something often asked of Muslim Americans, as if they are likely to support terrorism. Mangi responded that the October 7 attacks “were a horror involving the deaths of innocent civilians.” But Cruz pressed him further, as if Mangi was going to justify the attacks.

“This is straight up Islamophobia,” Wiener, who is Jewish, posted on X. “This nominee is highly qualified. Ted Cruz grilled him about October 7. That’s no different than grilling a Jewish nominee about Israel’s conduct of the war.”

“Are they asking other nominees these questions? Of course not. Only the Muslim nominee.”

Cruz responded by accusing Wiener of getting “thrown out of Congress for sending naked pictures of himself.” Wiener has never been in Congress—he is a state senator—and Cruz may have been thinking of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who spells his name differently and is from the other side of the country.

Moreover, it’s odd that Cruz made the mistake, considering he went to law school with Scott Wiener.

But Wiener wasn’t fazed.

“Ted, remember when we went to law school together & everyone hated you?” he clapped back.

Mangi’s appointment to federal court has the support of the Anti-Defamation League.

“As the Anti-Defamation League made clear, the debunked rightwing smear campaign against Mr. Mangi is ‘profoundly wrong,’” a White House spokesperson said when asked about the possibility that Mangi won’t be confirmed. “Mr. Mangi was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the White House continues to fight for his confirmation and to repudiate the vicious hate and bigotry with which he has been targeted because of his Muslim faith.”

While Democrats hold the majority in the Senate, CNN reports that some Senate Democrats may not support his confirmation.

Cruz has long been maligned by his colleagues. A BBC article from 2016 says that his colleagues and former classmates called him “abrasive,” “creepy,” and “arrogant.”

In 2016, after Cruz defended a Texas state bill against adult “self-stimulation” devices, Cruz’s freshman-year roommate from Princeton University, Craig Mazin, wrote via social media, “Ted Cruz thinks people don’t have the right to ‘stimulate their genitals.’ I was his college roommate. That would be a new belief of his.”

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