‘A dumbass move’: Ted Cruz’s former aide attacks Cancun trip

‘This is gross, negligent, reckless incompetence,’ says former communications director of fiasco surrounding former boss

A former communications director for Ted Cruz has attacked the Texas senator’s controversial Cancun trip during a record breaking winter storm, and said his former boss made a “dumbass move”.

"In the very sophisticated world of political communication this is what you call a dumbass move," said Rick Tyler to MSNBC on Friday. "There's no excuse for it. It's really remarkable”.

Mr Tyler was speaking after Mr Cruz admitted on Thursday that he made a mistake by travelling with his family to Cancun, Mexico, — while thousands of Texans were still without power or running water for the fourth day running.

"It was obviously a mistake, and in hindsight I wouldn't have done it," Mr Cruz told reporters outside his home after he returned to Houston, having blamed his daughters for asking for the short trip. "I understand why people are upset”.

Mr Tyler went on to challenge the thought process behind Mr Cruz’s trip, and told MSNBC that “during that crisis where people don't have electricity and they're told by the state to boil water that doesn't even come out of their faucets, you [Mr Cruz] decide to get online, book yourself a ticket to a first-class resort in Cancun, and then get on a plane.”

“And after you order your first glass of wine in first class, you decide, and this is senator Cruz's statement, that something doesn't feel right about this," Mr Tyler continued, referring to the senator afterwards saying he had “second thoughts” as soon as he boarded the plane to Mexico.

"Maybe this is the wrong thing to do, and then Ted Cruz did a really horrendous move. He blamed his mistake on his children. Nowhere, I can promise you, did a 10-year-old and 12-year-old say, 'Daddy, I know you have important obligations as a senator but we want to go to the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun this week and you're going to take us,' and he would succumb to that."

"I promise they didn't ask to go to Cancun," Mr Tyler added. "This is senator Cruz's move, and he comes back and suddenly he wants to have a reset and put it back together. This is gross, negligent, reckless incompetence."

Mr Cruz, in a written statement on Thursday afternoon, said he was travelling with his daughters on a trip to Cancun, and planned to return to Texas that afternoon — despite reports suggesting he booked the return flight as late as Thursday morning, amid mounting criticism.

The senator went on to admit on Thursday night that his actions were wrong, and that he had intended to stay until the weekend. He told Fox News’ host Sean Hannity that he “initially planned to stay through the weekend.”

Mr Cruz added: “But as I was heading down there, you know, I started to have second thoughts almost immediately because the crisis here in Texas, you need to be here on the ground.”

He also told broadcaster KTRK-TV of Houston that "In hindsight, if I understood how it would be perceived, the reaction people would have, obviously I wouldn't have done it.”

Critics of the senator on Thursday called for his resignation, having failed to show leadership during the crisis in Texas, where temperatures reached as low as 0F (-18C) on Sunday.

The record breaking winter storm caused widespread power outages, burst water pipes, and wider disruption, as well as more than 20 deaths in weather related incidents.