Ted Cruz stood beaming beside a Tesla, his thumbs poised above his phone as he fired off a tweet:
“This may be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
The tweet was accompanied by a photo of him standing stiffly next to the sleek electric vehicle, which sat in the driveway of the White House. It was a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt—an attempt to make Cruz look forward-thinking, engaged with technology, and, perhaps most importantly, fun.
The internet wasted no time in correcting him.
“A car? A Tesla? Bro, have you never seen a roller coaster?” one response read.
“Ted, buddy, have you ever been to a concert? Have you ever seen a dog do literally anything?” another user added.
Others pointed out that, despite Cruz’s giddy excitement, the moment was anything but spontaneous. The Tesla was merely a prop in a White House stunt orchestrated by Trump, desperate to prop up Tesla’s sinking stock price. The company had been floundering ever since Elon Musk took over the newly created Department of Government Efficiency—or, as it was ironically dubbed, DOGE. Public dissatisfaction with Musk’s leadership had been growing, with critics pointing to a total lack of understanding of how government functions and layoffs affecting vital resources like the FAA and NOAA.
Yet, here was Cruz, grinning like a kid who just discovered a new favorite toy—seemingly oblivious to the fact that the event was less about innovation and more about damage control.
A few observers noted the irony. “Imagine calling something ‘the coolest thing ever’ while standing in front of the White House, one of the most powerful places in the world,” wrote one political analyst.
The responses piled up. People posted photos of the Grand Canyon, the Northern Lights, spacewalks, and even a man balancing a stack of chairs on his chin—each captioned with some variation of “Ted, you gotta get out more.”
The roasting session reached such heights that even Cruz’s own colleagues tried to stage an intervention. A fellow senator reportedly sent him a list of must-see attractions in Texas, including Big Bend National Park, live rodeos, and a reminder that Texas has actual rocket launches.
Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a man always eager to insert himself into viral moments, responded with a single word:
“Cool.”
But the best response came from Cruz’s own teenage daughter, who texted him in exasperation:
“Dad, please delete this.”
Cruz didn’t delete the tweet. He doubled down, posting a follow-up about the “amazing innovation” of electric cars—again, a technology he had spent years dismissing as part of a “liberal agenda.”
The whole episode left the internet with one overwhelming conclusion: Ted Cruz really needed to get out more. Preferably somewhere other than a White House PR event.
