Ted Cruz Rebuked by Largest Texas Newspaper: ‘Vilify, Inflame and Divide’

Texas’ largest newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, rebuked Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, on Saturday in an editorial, writing that the lawmaker’s remark in regards to the taking pictures loss of life of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was used to “vilify, inflame and divide.”

Thompson, 50, was fatally shot on December 4 whereas en route to talk at UnitedHealth Group’s investor convention in Midtown Manhattan. New York Metropolis Police (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica Tisch reported that Thompson was struck within the again and leg.

Authorities arrested 26-year-old suspect Luigi Mangione on Monday at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Mangione is at present going through a second-degree homicide cost, amongst others, in New York and can be going through fees in Pennsylvania. A manifesto found with Mangione recommended his alleged actions have been fueled by anger towards the medical insurance business, describing executives as “parasites.”

On Monday, Cruz took to X, previously Twitter, to weigh in on the taking pictures as he condemned “leftists” who have voiced sympathy for the suspected shooter or expressed satisfaction over the deadly taking pictures.

“Leftism is a psychological illness. The suspected assassin, an Ivy League graduate, ‘subscribed to anti-capitalist and climate-change causes, based on law-enforcement.’ And the assassin has been broadly celebrated by leftists on-line. Tragic & sick,” he wrote.

In an op-ed revealed by the Chronicle on Saturday, the newspaper’s editorial board critiqued Cruz’s response and described it as a publish to “vilify, inflame and divide.”

“This week he leapt into the swirling headlines across the homicide of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and suspect Luigi Mangione by doing what he does greatest: flattening advanced points and other people into sound bites (or social media posts) that vilify, inflame and divide.”

Newsweek has reached out to Cruz’s workplace by way of electronic mail for touch upon Sunday morning.

The newspaper’s editorial board added that Cruz’s level about it being “tragic & sick” has “some advantage not simply because celebrating homicide will be tragic and sick, however as a result of a number of the folks doing it apparently had their very own experiences with tragedy and illness that well being care denials solely exacerbated.”

It added: “However blaming the vengeful anger on ‘leftism?’ Merciless medical insurance practices on this nation are their very own sort of illness. Cruz might assist heal it, if he wished. However that will require doing his job.”

Reactions to Thompson’s loss of life and Mangione’s arrest counsel {that a} important phase of the American public could also be supportive of the suspect, with many throughout the nation having come to view Mangione as a kind of folks hero—expressing their outrage and frustration with the nation’s non-public medical insurance business.

Whereas many additionally mentioned they didn’t condone or approve of Mangione’s actions, they’ve additionally struggled to really feel empathy for Thompson.

The homicide has been a boiling level in People’ anger over the well being care business, as many have cited their very own damaging experiences in coping with insurance coverage claims.

It is usually far from clear that any actual motion is forming or that help for Mangione and indifference to Thompson’s killing is coming completely from the left.