A controversial American politician has been mocked for an embarrassing gaffe in which he mixed up Western Australia with Washington State while raging over Covid-19 restrictions.
Ted Cruz, a US presidential hopeful, mixed up the two locations which are 15,000km apart, in a Twitter rant about a ban on dancing indoors on New Year's Eve.
Cruz, who ran for US president in 2016 and has not ruled out running again in 2024, mistook a WA government post for a message from Washington State authorities.
The US senator, who just turned 51, has a history of involving Australia in his public statements, deliberately and accidentally.
A Rockingham woman, Gillian Argentino, asked if masks were required and if dancing was banned in a new WA government Facebook thread.
She was told dancing was 'strictly not permitted'.
Cruz seized on the post, launching an attack on Democrats, who he believed were responsible, labelling them 'power-drunk authoritarian killjoys' on social media.
'Any rational and free citizen: p*** off,' he continued.
When followers began to correct him, Cruz quickly deleted his post.
But his critics and the American media had already noticed the gaffe.
Republican Eric Swalwell was first to call out Cruz, mocking him as 'Einstein'.
'Hey Ted, WA is Western Australia. But cool tweet.'
After Cruz deleted the post, Swalwell went in again.
'Jackpot. Ted Cruz deleted his faux outrage tweet. Please stay on this phony.'
His fellow Republican Adam Kinzinger, from Illinois, reposted the deleted tweet.
'I'll post as a reminder to all of us to do your research before posting misinformation. WA means 'Western Australia' not Washington state,' Mr Kinzinger tweeted.
Cruz has been a vocal critic of Covid-19 restrictions, including in Australia.
'I've always said Australia is the Texas of the Pacific,' he said earlier this year.
Northern Territory chief minister Michael Gunner dismissed Cruz, saying 'we don't need your lectures, mate.'
In 2016 Cruz claimed gun ownership restriction in Australia had led to an increase in sexual assaults down under.
This happened, he explained, because 'because women were unable to defend themselves'.
Among the major US media to notice Cruz's latest gaffe were Salon.com and the Daily Beast, which called Cruz's tweet an 'epic fail'.
The WA government has banned dancing as a 'high risk' activity, mostly publishing rules that apply to large events.
'Any gathering of more than 500 patrons (whether in public of private) that involves the playing of recorded music or live performances involving singing or dancing for the purposes of entertainment is not permitted,' the WA rules say.
But some WA locals have been confused if the same rule applies at private parties. It does.
Comments
Leave a Comment