Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz looked like he was falling asleep during President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night.
A video viewed over 300,000 times online showed Cruz closing his eyes for a few seconds before reopening them, looking exhausted. (RELATED: Media Outlets And Political Pundits Fawn Over Biden’s First Primetime Address: ‘There Is Life After Grief’)
Ted Cruz literally falling asleep in Biden speech
He is all of us pic.twitter.com/18Lpo8EDPp
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) April 29, 2021
Cruz responded with a hashtag that read, “boring but radical.”
#BoringButRadical https://t.co/wcK9NQuRte
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 29, 2021
Biden’s speech marked the day before his 100th day in office. He called for gun control, lowering prescription drug prices and his efforts regarding jobs. He referred to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
There were only around 200 people in attendance due to coronavirus restrictions – typically, around 1,600 people attend the address. Among those in attendance were Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, first lady Jill Biden, second gentlemen Doug Emhoff and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
No other members of the Supreme Court attended and most of the Cabinet was absent. All attendees wore masks and sat far away from each other during the speech, although the White House has prioritized vaccination for staff and intended as early as January to vaccinate all of them.
The White House also chose to not follow the tradition of choosing a “designated survivor,” who is one of the people in the presidential line of succession who does not attend the speech in case there are mass casualties. The administration said that a designated survivor was unnecessary given how few people were in attendance.