Cruz Says Leftists ‘Regularly Traffic in Racism, Bigotry’ to Push Agenda

(USA Features) Sen. Ted Cruz said Wednesday that Democrats and leftist allies often resort to accusations of “bigotry” to push back against conservatives to achieve their political objectives.

The Texas Republican made his remarks during an interview with Newsmax TV host Rob Schmitt following comments by MSNBC host Joy Reid who referred to Cruz as “Stephen from ‘Django Unchained'” and accused him of trying to keep “fellow people of color” from voting.

“Well, look, unfortunately, the left regularly traffics in racism and bigotry and their view is that any minority, I’m Hispanic, if you’re Hispanic, if you’re African American, you are not allowed to disagree with your leftist overlords,” Cruz said.

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“You must obey their orthodoxy or they will ridicule you. They’ll attack you, they’ll mock you, and I got to say, the left really is quite comfortable with seeing that kind of bigotry play out.”

Cruz and most other Republicans in Congress have been pushing back on Democratic legislation that would amount to a dramatic overhaul of state voting laws, putting elections more in control of the federal government.

The Constitution provides that states are primarily responsible for enacting voting laws, though it also grants Congress some authority as well. Cruz and Republicans argue that Democrats are trying to overturn state voter integrity laws such as requiring identification to cast ballots and cleaning up out-of-date voter registration lists.

“So, you look at what the ‘Corrupt Politicians Act’ does,” Cruz told Schmitt. “It federalizes elections across this country and it strikes down almost every reasonable voter integrity law. So, you just mentioned voter ID laws. Twenty-nine states across the country quite reasonably have implemented voter ID laws. In Texas, if you want to vote, you have got to show a picture ID.

“The Corrupt Politicians Act strikes every one of those laws down and what you said is exactly right, 75% of Americans support voter ID laws, 60% of Democrats support them, and about 60% of African Americans support them, right? But the Democrats strike every one of them down,” Cruz continued.

The Texas senator said that as long as the Senate remains under the filibuster rule, which requires a 60-vote majority to move legislation, there isn’t much chance that the voting overhaul will pass.

He went on to note that two Democrats — Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — have both openly opposed ending the rule, giving Democrats only 48 votes in a chamber that is evenly divided at 50-50.

“Right now there are 48 Democrats that are perfectly prepared to end the filibuster,” Cruz told Schmitt. “If Manchin and Sinema give in, they will pass the Corrupt Politicians Act, and I’ve got to tell you . . . I am concerned. I am very worried.

“I’ve served nine years with Joe Manchin. He’s a very nice guy. He’s a very affable guy. I’ve never seen him once stand up to [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer in any instance where his vote was the deciding vote and it mattered,” Cruz continued.

“And, so, if past history is any indication, the most likely outcome is that Manchin and Sinema are going to roll over and let Schumer ram this through.”