Protesters interrupted a Republican senator during a television appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Monday.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was discussing the economy ahead of the 2022 midterm elections next month when protesters in the audience began yelling about climate change.
“Excuse me. Excuse me. Ladies. Ladies. Excuse us. Let us do our job. Let us do our job,” host Whoopi Goldberg said. “We hear what you have to say, but you got to go.”
After the protesters stopped, host Sunny Hostin asked Cruz about what the Republicans stand for and the party’s agenda.
“It’s very simple. I’ll give you three words: jobs, freedom, and security. When it comes to jobs, listen, when you cut taxes, when you reduce regulations, when small businesses expand, you have lots and lots of jobs,” Cruz said.
“The government has important roles. But let’s be clear. Under the Trump administration, Republican majorities in both houses, we had the lowest unemployment in 50 years, we had the lowest African American unemployment ever recorded,” the Texas senator added.
Hostin interrupted Cruz to mention the federal deficit, which she said was “the highest deficit in years.”
“No, we’re at $31 trillion now … listen, I stood up to my party a bunch of times, but when you’ve got poverty going down. We had the lowest African American employment ever recorded, the lowest Hispanic unemployment ever recorded. That’s a big deal,” Cruz said.
“And this election in November, I think, is going to be a tidal wave. I think Republicans are going to retake both houses,” he said. “And the biggest reason people at home are saying, ‘Okay, is my life better today than it was two years ago?’ And I think for the vast majority of Americans, the answer is no.”
The show’s audio was quickly cut after it appeared more protesters were shouting in the audience. The show then cut to a commercial break.
Host Ana Navarro then pressed Cruz over comments he made about former President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign trail. She also mentioned comments the former president made about Cruz’s wife, Heidi, and his father, whom Trump accused of being part of former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
“I’m married to a Cuban man. I frankly don’t know how you get over your wife being called ugly. I don’t how you get over those kind of calumnies against your father, but you obviously have gotten over it,” Navarro said. “Today you sing a very different tone. So, tell us—were you lying then or are you lying now?”
Cruz joked about the question being “loaded” before answering.
“What I would say it is: In 2016, we had a primary where Donald Trump and I beat the living crap out of each other. I’ll tell you. Heidi laughed when he said that. My father laughed,” Cruz said. “By the way, my dad didn’t just kill Kennedy. We got Jimmy Hoffa buried in the backyard. It was idiotic and we went after each other.”
“And at the end of the day, [Trump] won. And I had a decision to make in November of 2016. He’d been elected president and I got a responsibility to represent 30 million Texans,” Cruz said. “I could have decided my feelings are hurt. I’m going to the take the ball and go home and not do my job. But if I was prepared to do that, I’d better be prepared to resign from my job because I have a responsibility.”
Cruz explained that at the time he said “listen, we have an opportunity to make a difference for this country and I want to roll up my sleeves and lead the fight to actually deliver on promises.”
The hosts and Cruz also got into a heated discussion about the 2020 presidential election results and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“January 6 is something I have a really hard time moving beyond from, and I say that as a constitutional conservative, which is what you pride yourself on being,” Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as the director of strategic communications and assistant to Trump in 2020, said.
“How can you be okay with the undemocratic action of trying to disenfranchise 80 million voters? And do you believe Biden legitimately won the election?” Griffin said.
Cruz, who was on “The View” promoting his new book, “Justice Corrupted,” said he has a chapter discussing Jan. 6 and the “inside story of what happened.”
“Listen, I recognize a lot of the folks who who may be here, who watch this show, are not politically on my side of the aisle. That’s fine,” Cruz said. “I’m glad we’re having conversations. I’m glad we’re actually talking to each other. America, there’s so much screaming and yelling and hatred that if this country is going to make it through, we got to actually try to understand each other and hear what the other is saying.”
“So I would encourage you, especially if you don’t happen to agree with my view of politics, read the chapter on January 6,” said Cruz.
Griffin pushed back on Cruz, saying she read it as someone who generally agreed with the Texas senator for most of his career.
“How do you reconcile your constitutional convictions with what happened on January 6 in trying to overturn the election when 60 court cases got knocked down?” Griffin asked. “Was Biden legitimately elected because half of the party thinks that he wasn’t and it would be very powerful for you to tell the truth.”
Cruz, who said Biden is president today, responded:
There are a lot of folks in the media that try to, any time a Republican is in front of a TV camera, try to say the election was fair and square and legitimate, you know who y’all don’t do that to?
You don’t do it to Hillary Clinton, who stood up and said Trump stole the election and said that the election was stolen.
Host Whoopi Goldberg eventually chimed in, interrupting Cruz, who took out a sheet of paper to provide examples of Democrats denying election results in the past.
“Here’s the thing. We may not like when Republicans win, but we don’t go and storm. We don’t try to change …” Goldberg said before audience applause cut her off.
“Did I miss an entire year of ANTIFA riots where cities across this country were burning?” Cruz asked.
“I don’t know what an ANTIFA riot is,” Goldberg said while interrupting Cruz.
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