Calgary Cruz heads south, admits he's a corporate lackey. Matt Gaetz falls under that party bus.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Ted Cruz admits he’s a corporate shill but like Matt Gaetz’s procurer, Joel Greenberg, prior crimes don’t count if you can get a pardon, even from the press. But hey Ted, confession is good for the soul because you don’t have to rely on the Zodiac, or sail one to get to Cancun.
What’s interesting is Cruz’s own confession that, right up to this very moment, he was a servile lackey to his corporate masters, doing their bidding for money:
This is the point in the drama when Republicans usually shrug their shoulders, call these companies “job creators,” and start to cut their taxes. Not this time.
This time, we won’t look the other way on Coca-Cola’s $12 billion in back taxes owed. This time, when Major League Baseball lobbies to preserve its multibillion-dollar antitrust exception, we’ll say no thank you. This time, whenBoeingasks for billions in corporate welfare, we’ll simply let the Export-Import Bank expire.
Yes, you read that right. The Republican posture toward corporations that betray the public trust, Cruz admits, is usually to shrug it off and praise them as job creators. Even corporations that, by Cruz’s account, cheat on their taxes and get unjustified handouts from Congress!
This was Cruz’s own policy. Indeed, he was doing it as recently as yesterday:
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It’s a very simple cause and effect.
If you want jobs, you want low taxes and low regulations.
In a new op-ed, Ted Cruz admits that he's been a servile lackey to his corporate masters, doing their bidding for money. @jonathanchait writes https://t.co/dt7PNcDjIY
Speaking of lackeys, apparently Joel Greenberg has squealed on Matt Gaetz and their adventures in sex trafficking. No amount of GQP disinformation will keep him in Congress, even the new dictatorial voting rules in Florida. This includes text messages that have Greenberg begging for Roger Stone’s help in getting a pardon:
“On more than one occasion, this individual was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Florida’s 1st Congressional District and myself,” Greenberg wrote in reference to the 17-year-old.
“From time to time, gas money or gifts, rent or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18. I did see the acts occur firsthand and Venmo transactions, Cash App or other payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.”
The letter, which The Daily Beast recently obtained, was written after Greenberg—who was under federal indictment—askedRoger Stoneto help him secure a pardon from then-President Donald Trump.
“I hope you are prepared to wire me $250,000 because I am feeling confident.”
A series of private messages starting in late 2020—also recently obtained by The Daily Beast—shows a number of exchanges between Greenberg and Stone conducted over the encrypted messaging app Signal, with communications set to disappear. However, Greenberg appears to have taken screenshots of a number of their conversations.
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Greenberg and Stone agreed he would pay Stone 250k for a pardon (a crime within a crime) and wrote a letter to detail the crime he wanted to be pardoned for: trafficking underage girls for Gaetz https://t.co/V19yEAiGat
Had these watch-me-woke-it-up CEOs actually read the bill—instead of parroting the radical left’s talking points—they’d have discovered they had no idea what they were talking about. A clutch of business leaders tried to win wokeTwitterpoints and clowned themselves instead.
This is the point in the drama when Republicans usually shrug their shoulders, call these companies “job creators,” and start to cut their taxes. Not this time.
This time, we won’t look the other way on Coca-Cola’s $12 billion in back taxes owed. This time, when Major League Baseball lobbies to preserve its multibillion-dollar antitrust exception, we’ll say no thank you. This time, whenBoeingasks for billions in corporate welfare, we’ll simply let the Export-Import Bank expire.
For too long, woke CEOs have been fair-weather friends to the Republican Party: They like us until the left’s digital pitchforks come out. Then they run away. Or they mouth off on legislation they don’t understand—and hurt the reputations of patriotic leaders protecting our elections and expanding the right to vote. Enough is enough. Corporations that flagrantly misrepresent efforts to protect our elections need to be called out, singled out and cut off.
In my nine years in the Senate, I’ve received $2.6 million in contributions from corporate political-action committees. Starting today, I no longer accept money from any corporate PAC. I urge my GOP colleagues at all levels to do the same.
For too long, Republicans have allowed the left and their big-business allies to attack our values with no response. We’ve allowed them to ship jobs overseas, attack gun rights, and destroy our energy companies. We’ve let them smear Republicans without paying any price.
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To them I say: When the time comes that you need help with a tax break or a regulatory change, I hope the Democrats take your calls, because we may not. Starting today, we won’t take your money either.
