A Dallas-area party store has joined the commentary on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R) controversial trip to Mexico last week through a new item for sale: the GOP senator as a piñata, carrying his passport and suitcase on his way back from Cancun.
The Dallas Morning News reported that ABC Party has added the piñata to its latest collection, showing Cruz with his Texas flag face mask and wearing a gray shirt and jeans, an outfit that resembles what he was wearing when he landed back in Houston last week.
The senator faced outrage from both constituents and fellow lawmakers for leaving Texas as his home state was battered by a severe winter storm.
Following the backlash, Cruz cut his trip short and returned to the Lone Star State, later admitting to reporters that his trip was a “mistake” and that “in hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it.”
The Texas party store first unveiled the Cruz piñata Monday around noon, and by 5 p.m. that day already had five or six orders, store owner Carlos De La Fuente told the Morning News.
According to local NBC affiliate station KXAS-TV, each piñata is handmade and takes about three to five days to complete. The 3 1/2-foot-tall Cruz piñata has a price tag of $100 and currently has a two-week wait list.
The Cruz piñata follows ABC Party’s tribute last month to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), depicting him in the now-viral meme sitting with his arms and legs crossed at President Biden’s inauguration.
The store also contains a piñata of former President Trump in its collection, as well as one resembling the spiky microscopic image of COVID-19.
The Texas senator, who since his trip to Mexico has been dubbed “Cancun Cruz” by critics, responded to media attention aimed at the incident by attributing it to a void he says has been left by the absence of Trump in the news cycle.
“Donald Trump broke the media, and so they don’t want to do that,” Cruz said during an appearance on conservative radio host Dana Loesch’s program Monday afternoon. “They just want to engage in political attacks.”
The Cruz family’s Cancun trip came as millions of people in their home state were left without power for days amid an unusual winter storm, bringing waves of snow and freezing temperatures.
According to The Associated Press, nearly 80 people died in Texas and other states hit by the storm, including fatalities from storm-related car crashes, carbon monoxide poisonings, hypothermia, drownings and house fires.