Biden visits the UK on his first foreign trip and meets the leader he once described as a version of Trump – live | US News

On August 4, 2019, the day after a gunman who posted hateful speeches against Hispanics shot 23 people in El Paso Walmart, the leader of the Texas Tea Party Group said on Facebook: Demographically replace people who are proud and powerful without being shocked.

“I don’t condone actions, but I definitely understand where they came from,” added his wife, the group’s founder, in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Tarrant County.

Ten days later, amid a backlash to Fred and Julie McCarty’s comments, the Northeastern Tarrant Tea Party released an undated testimonial from Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tux) wishing the group a happy 10th anniversary as they renamed themselves “real.” The Texas Project.

“Thank you for the great job you’re doing,” Cruz said, in the only endorsement in front of the camera from an elected official posted on the group’s website. The social networking site Facebook And the Youtube Pages to celebrate the occasion. “Julie, Fred, thank you for your passion.”

Washington Post review of the True Texas project Activities and social media show that Cruz continued to embrace the group, even as its patriotic rhetoric and divisive tactics alienated some other Conservative elected officials. Cruz’s father, a frequent substitute for his son on the campaign trail, spoke at a group meeting shortly after the riots on January 6, as the group’s leadership was defending the pro-Trump mob on social media.

A spokeswoman did not respond to a request for an interview with the senator or to specific questions about the TTP. “The senator is not aware of every tweet, post or comment from activists in Texas,” spokeswoman Irene Perrin said in a statement.

“If you want to know what he’s thinking on any issue – feel free to take a look at his decades-long track record. Senator Cruz is unequivocal in his condemnation of any form of racism, hatred, or bigotry.”

In 2019, Cruz condemned the shooting in El Paso as a “heinous act of terror and white supremacy”. The gunman’s statement condemned “Spanish invasion of TexasMany of the dead or wounded were of Hispanic origin.

Cruz’s continuing ties to the Pakistan Taliban contrast with the group’s much-charged relationship with the Republican establishment in Texas.