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For Ted Cruz, Hong Kong democracy protesters have only ever been a stage prop
- The Trump ally’s blocking of a bill that would give refuge to Hong Kong dissidents underlines the self-serving nature of the Republican leadership under Trump: they have no qualms about selling out America’s allies and values to get their way
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US Senator Ted Cruz’s heart has bled so profusely for those suffering under the wrath of a Hong Kong government unable and unwilling to address demands for democratic reform that most of us eventually had to tune out the drama like it was a tweet from Donald Trump about rigged elections.
Even before the Chinese government foisted its national security law on Hong Kong and gave the city’s forever-Beijing-friendly chief executive the power to disqualify lawmakers not sufficiently loyal to the Chinese Communist Party with the stroke of a pen, Cruz was part of an anti-China roadshow that shrieked about the “enslavement of the Chinese people”.
So enamoured was he with the power of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement that he took it upon himself to travel to the city last year. Dressed in black in a gesture of solidarity with the opposition, he intoned: “A protester has power that makes the dictatorship tremble.”
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Cajoling the world to support the brave American-flag wavers in Hong Kong seemed to be one of Cruz’s most passionate causes, until it wasn’t.
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Hong Kong rally urges US Congress to pass Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act
Hong Kong rally urges US Congress to pass Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act
On Friday, Cruz blocked legislation that would have given Hong Kong dissidents special refugee status by arguing that Beijing would exploit relaxed immigration standards to send spies to the US.
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