Ted Cruz Showed 'Disinterest' While Looking At Uvalde Victim's Photo In Casket; Twitter Reacts

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX., has spurred fresh outrage among netizens after a photo of him meeting with the parents of a school shooting victim was shared Wednesday on Twitter. The Texan politico is being accused of exhibiting a "couldn't care less" attitude while the parents showed Cruz the last photo they took of their deceased 10-year-old daughter, in a casket.

Lexi Rubio was a fourth-grader from Uvalde, Texas, who died along with 20 others in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24. She was laid to rest at the Hillcrest Cemetary in Uvalde on June 11 after a funeral service at the First Baptist Church.

Lexi's parents, Felix and Kimberly Mata-Rubio shared the last photo they clicked of their daughter lying in a child-sized casket with Cruz during a meeting on Wednesday.

The parents have pushed for stricter gun laws from Congress following their daughter's death. They discussed the same with Cruz during the meeting but were met with resistance.

The sobering image, however, did not seem to change his stance on banning assault weapons in the state where an estimated 37% population owns guns.

"Felix shared our last photo of Lexi - in her child-size casket - as we asked @tedcruz to protect his constituents by supporting a federal ban on assault weapons. He declined. Instead, he said he supports increasing law enforcement presence on school campuses," she tweeted.

The photo accompanying the tweet shows Cruz sitting cross-legged and leaning back into his chair, looking at the parents while holding the phone with the photo of the deceased child.

Twitter users who saw the photo of Cruz weighed in with their views on his body language during the meeting.

"Look at that body language. That man couldn't care less and I'm so sorry for you all all the other families. We all need to vote him (and Abbott) out," a tweet said.

"Look at his body language. He isn't just despicable. He's disrespectful.
You deserved better," remarked a second.

"How can Ted Cruz look in the face of these parents and deny their request. What a cold hearted muthaf---er," an irate tweet read.

"His body language screams 'I don't give a s**t'," noted another.

"His body language speaks volumes and shows his lack of respect!" said another tweet.

"Look at his posture and body language. He was never going to do anything besides what he wanted to do. He did not lean forward to listen or relate to or comprehend your lives. He is showing dominance and disinterest. Revolting," read another tweet.

Cruz is currently pushing for the "Securing Our Schools Act of 2022" which seeks $15 billion toward increasing the volume of school resource officers, $10 billion toward hiring 15,000 mental health professionals for middle and high school, and $2.56 billion for physical security improvements on school campuses.

"I think this is a priority and I think we need to invest to keep our kids safe," Cruz told CBS 11 on Tuesday.

Elaborating on the need for the proposed bill, Cruz said, "Having additional police officers there on the campus able to protect your daughter, your son, able to stop someone who would commit a horrific crime of violence before they get into the school, nothing is more effective than law enforcement physically present there.

"There are warning signs that if you had a mental health professional hopefully some of these crimes could be stopped before they're carried out," he added.