Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.
Carlos De La Cruz, who’s running to represent Texas’ 35th District in the U.S. House, wants voters to believe he’s a champion of working families. The Republican political novice has repeated that claim in speeches and TV ads.
But here’s one problem with the working-class hero act: De La Cruz is also an unabashed cheerleader for a president whose policies have repeatedly kicked those same families when they’re down.
During a speech at Dallas’ Republican midterm convention, De La Cruz tried to cast himself as a defender of average folks struggling to make ends meet.
“I’m fighting for the family sitting at the kitchen table tonight, doing the math on the rent, the groceries and the gas, and wondering how it all adds up,” he declared.
His speechwriters even incorporated this populist nugget: “The economy should work for working families, not for Washington insiders.”
That’s rich coming from someone whose campaign ads trumpet President Donald Trump’s full endorsement, not to mention his own MAGA fealty.
After all, Trump has dismissed Americans’ legitimate concerns about affordability as a Democratic “hoax.” That’s quite a message to send to families watching grocery bills devour their paychecks as ravenously as zombies do the cast of The Walking Dead.
Worse, Trump championed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which delivered enormous tax benefits to the wealthy while slashing Medicaid and food assistance programs that millions of working families depend on.
Those cuts aren’t abstract numbers on a congressional spreadsheet. They mean families in District 35 will struggle to afford medical care and put food on the table.
And what about those Washington insiders De La Cruz claims to despise?
With Republicans controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, Trump’s administration has elevated self-dealing to one of its governing philosophies.
From the lucrative cryptocurrency ventures of the president’s family to the extraordinary access he’s given wealthy donors and corporate interests to win White House favor, the swamp Trump promised to drain is giving off more noxious gas than ever.
Yet as recently as the president’s October rally in San Antonio, De La Cruz was there to kiss the ring. Indeed, the rally was scheduled in part to help drag De La Cruz across the finish line.
There’s something profoundly dishonest about posing as a defender of working people while enthusiastically embracing policies that bend them over.
If De La Cruz actually wants an economy that serves working families, he should explain where he parts ways with Trump. Which safety-net cuts would he work to reverse if elected? Which insider deals would he investigate as a member of Congress?
Until then, his kitchen-table talk is just so much bullshit.
This assclown can’t have it both ways. He can either stand with working families or keep riding the Trump train. Pretending he can do both is an insult to our intelligence.
Texas politics is a mess. We make it a readable mess.
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