Texas Senator Ted Cruz has been mocked online after suggesting that the U.S. should be arming protesters in Iran amid the ongoing ICE chaos in Minnesota that has seen two demonstrators shot dead by federal agents.
“We should be arming the protesters in Iran. NOW. For the Iranian people to overthrow the Ayatollah – a tyrant who routinely chants ‘death to America’ – would make America much, much safer,” Cruz wrote on X Tuesday.
It comes after Donald Trump warned that a “massive Armada” was heading to Iran in response to the regime’s brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrators. The president has suggested that further U.S. military action may be taken in the region if the country’s leadership does not “make a deal.”
Social media users were quick to point out the “real-time hypocrisy” of Cruz’s comments, following the recent protests in Minneapolis, which resulted in the deaths of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was reportedly armed, and Renee Good.
“Oh the hypocrisy. Welcome to Clown World. You can’t make this s**t up folks,” wrote one user, while another added: “The jokes write themselves.”
“We should be ARMING protesters in Iran. But if you’re an armed protester in [the] USA. You’ll get shot ten times. Do I have that right?” added another user.
Pretti’s death has sparked outrage from both sides of the political aisle, and in recent days, the Trump administration has seemingly backtracked from its initial claims that he was a “domestic terrorist” who intended to “assassinate” the agents.
Even Cruz himself warned the administration that “escalating the rhetoric doesn’t help and it actually loses credibility.”
“So I would encourage the administration to be more measured, to recognize the tragedy and to say, we don’t want anyone, anyone’s lives, to be lost. And the politicians who are pouring gasoline onto this fire, they need to stop,” he said in a recent interview.
Meanwhile, Border Patrol “commander at large” Gregory Bovino has been removed from Minneapolis and replaced with border czar Tom Homman. Two of the agents involved in Pretti’s killing have been placed on administrative leave as the internal DHS investigation into the incident continues.
Republicans and Second Amendment advocates, including the National Rifle Association, have also pushed back on Donald Trump’s assertion that Pretti “shouldn’t have been carrying a gun” while attending the protest despite having a lawful permit to carry the weapon.
The National Rifle Association, America’s biggest gun lobby, responded to remarks made by the president himself as well as a Trump-appointed official, who wrote on X: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you. Don’t do it!”
The NRA replied directly to his post, calling his sentiment “dangerous and wrong.”
Other social media users responding to Cruz’s post urged him and others to focus on domestic affairs, in line with Donald Trump’s campaign to stay out of foreign wars and put America first.
“Can you imagine if a foreign nation had their Secret Agencies arming the protesters in Minnesota right now to start a war? Can you imagine if their politicians went on a global public media outlet and asked for that?” one user wrote.
“How about we try staying out of other people’s problems?”
