Ted Cruz on Calls to Limit Electricity in CA: Dems Hold True ‘Contempt for Working Class Men, Women’

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted the Democratic Party, describing it as ‘of the rich, by the rich and for the rich’ and ‘the party of radical climate billionaires,’ while explaining how Democrats show true “contempt for working-class men and women,” as he condemned recent calls for Californians to cut back on electricity usage.

During an appearance on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Prime Time on Wednesday, Cruz addressed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) recent call for Californians “to double down to save energy” by turning off their air conditioners after 4 p.m. to avoid the “real” risk of outages.

Cruz, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, insisted the solution to maintaining power in the summertime is “not complicated.” 

“It’s an all-of-the-above energy policy,” he said with regard to exploiting various energy sources. “It’s a policy that lets people heat their homes and cool their homes and drive their cars and get to work and take care of their kids.”

He then commended Watters for earlier remarks he believed accurately depicted the Democrats.

“I’ve got to say that that opening monologue you just did, it really did illustrate the modern Democratic Party, which is ‘of the rich, by the rich and for the rich,’” he said. 

“Today’s Democrat Party is all about California environmentalist billionaires,” he added.

Cruz also pointed to Newsom’s attire, which seemed to highlight the hypocrisy of policies like his. 

“I love that Gavin Newsom was wearing his fleece, obviously in cool air conditioning, saying ‘let them eat cake, let them sweat, you don’t get air conditioning,’” the Texas senator said. 

CA is experiencing an unprecedented heatwave. This will be the hottest & longest on record for September.

Our energy grid is being pushed to its max. The risk of outages is real.

We need everyone to double down to save energy after 4pm today.pic.twitter.com/6QWozS0pyp

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 6, 2022

“It’s like [climate envoy] John Kerry who flies his private jet all over the planet lecturing people that ‘you poor, gritty working class with dirt under your fingernails, you need to go without an automobile. You need to turn your air conditioner off,” he added. “‘In fact, you need to just stay home and eat worms.’” 

According to Cruz, such policies indicate a true “contempt for working-class men and women” by the Democrats.

“And that’s led to the flip, which is today’s Republican Party is the party of truck drivers and steel workers and waiters and waitresses and cops and firefighters,” he said. 

“And I think that’s the most significant political shift we’ve seen in decades,” he added.

In a tweet following the broadcast, Cruz deemed Democrats “the party of radical climate billionaires.”

 “The contempt from the ruling class on the working-class people is palpable,” he wrote.

Democrats are the party of radical climate billionaires.

The contempt from the ruling class on the working-class people is palpable. pic.twitter.com/bgKbjy6zqN

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 8, 2022

Watters later noted that Newsom was guilty of similar hypocrisy after — during the height of the COVID pandemic — his children returned to in-person learning at a private school, while many public schools across the state remained closed under pandemic policies, including nearly all of those in Sacramento County, where the governor resides.

Cruz’s remarks follow last month’s confirmation by the State of California of Newsom’s decision to ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035, a move that some fear will close businesses, cut jobs, and increase strain on the power grid.