Oh, Sen. Ted Cruz, what must it be like to say things like this with no concern at all for the truth, for irony, or how much of a schmuck it makes you.
"I will say I'm concerned. I think [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats want a shutdown," he said, according to the Texas Tribune.
He added that the party's base is currently demanding that Senate Democrats "engage in across-the-board obstruction" to anything proposed by Republicans or President Trump.
"And so I do have some concern that to appease the radical left, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats may do everything they can to try to provoke a shutdown," Cruz told Texas reporters.
It's as if 2013 and the government shutdown he engineered with House Republicans appeasing the extremist right over Obamacare (but blessed by Ted Cruz's God, conveniently) never happened. Or like he never made threats in 2015 to shut the government down over Planned Parenthood.
So it's true that Democrats have talked about standing firm—to the point of shutdown—to make sure low-income people don't lose their health insurance despite Trump's threats, and to make sure retired coal miners keep their health benefits. So, yes, while Cruz was willing to shut government down to take health care away from millions, Democrats are threatening to do it to save millions of people. Moral distinctions make no difference to Cruz, however.
But he's also got the little problem of the shutdown threats coming from the White House itself over immigration. Do they want a shutdown? Is Trump's radical base demanding it? Does the senator care? Of course not. It's Ted Cruz.