This week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), who narrowly lost to Cruz during the 2018 midterms, worked to provide Texans with supplies and conducted welfare checks, respectively, after the state was hit with an unprecedented winter storm.
“Charity isn’t a replacement for good governance, but we won’t turn away from helping people in need when things hit the fan,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
O’Rourke tweeted at Ocasio-Cortez, thanking her and other contributors for the relief fund.
The former member of Congress also worked to provide Texans with assistance, including tweeting out resources and organizing a phone bank that conducted welfare checks on senior citizens. Volunteers made more than 784,000 phone calls that helped senior people find shelter, food, and water, O’Rourke said.
And, of course, Chef Andres is there:
These aren’t the only people helping. There are thousands, including many, many average Texans helping out their neighbors in dozens of ways.
But when you contrast these actions by the high profile Democrats with the way the Republicans in the state and around the country typically react to a natural disaster, it really brings home the difference. Trump and Fox News and many other Republicans dismissively told California to “rake the forest” during the deadly fires last year and even voted against federal help for New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy. Ted Cruz famously took off for Cancun during the emergency this week rather than stick around and try to help any way he could.
He was just doing what comes naturally.