- Ted Cruz shared a TikTok comparing ads for the US military and the Russian military on Thursday.
- The GOP senator said the US military was "woke" and "emasculated" compared to Russia's military.
- MSNBC anchor Brian Williams nicknamed the senator "Kremlin Cruz" after the comments.
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Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP
GOP Senator Ted Cruz lashed out at Brian Williams after the MSNBC anchor bestowed him with the nickname "Kremlin Cruz" for sharing Russian army propaganda.
"Is there a more pitiful example of corrupt corporate media than Brian Williams?," Cruz wrote in a six-part Twitter thread. "He was fired as the anchor of NBC Nightly News for 'misrepresenting events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003.' Now, he's a left-wing hack at MSNBC."
Williams called him "Kremlin Cruz," noting that the senator hated being called "Cancun Cruz" after he fled Texas for Mexico during a deadly winter storm in Texas.
The anchor's criticism came after Cruz called the US military "woke" and "emasculated" compared to Russia's military in a tweet on Thursday. A TikTok video comparing a Russian recruitment ad with a US Army commercial was the basis of Cruz's criticism.
-Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 20, 2021
The GOP senator then suggested that President Joe Biden supported Russia and called on Williams to refer to the president as "Kremlin Joe."
-Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 22, 2021
Cruz's tweets on Saturday have doubled down on his previous claims, which have prompted critics to highlight that he was a firm supporter of former President Donald Trump, who on multiple occasions praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.