The Daily Show Skewers Ted Cruz with Fake Cancún Tourism Ad Promoting a 'Bad Optics Package'

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After taking a trip to Cancún, Mexico, amid recovery from deadly winter weather in Texas, Senator Ted Cruz is facing blowback from citizens, fellow elected officials and late night hosts.

Cruz, 50, quickly turned around and headed back to the States when news of his trip broke, first claiming he'd only intended for a short getaway, then admitting he previously planned to stay through the weekend.

"Whether the decision to go was tone-deaf — look, it was obviously a mistake," Cruz said, as captured in video by the Recount, once he arrived home to find protesters outside his house. "In hindsight, I wouldn't've done it."

The Daily Show's Trevor Noah satirized Cruz's brief trip during Thursday's episode of the Comedy Central series, creating a fake tourism ad for the popular vacation spot.

"Need to get away from it all but only for like four hours?" the ad begins. "Then come to Cancún — the perfect vacation spot for your half-day getaway."

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"Grab a taxi from the airport for the whole family then grab a moped for when you have to speed back to the airport in shame!" it continues. "Enjoy our beaches, night clubs and — uh oh, your chief of staff is calling!"

The clip then promotes a "Bad Optics Package," complete with "enough sunscreen to protect you for four minutes."

"And with our new Bad Optics Package, you'll get same day round trip tickets, enough sunscreen to protect you for four minutes and a prewritten statement saying you were 'always planning' to be in Cancún just for breakfast," it concludes. "Cancún — what the f--- were you thinking?"

The Daily Show also posted a compilation of times that Cruz has criticized other lawmakers who took vacations during moments of crisis, pointing out the Texas senator's hypocrisy.

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During his monologue at the top of the Thursday episode, Noah took a few more jabs at Cruz as he explained the disastrous situation in Texas following Winter Storm Uri, which has been linked to at least 47 deaths, The Washington Post reports.

"Texas: where half a million residents were still without power today, and more than 200,000 without clean water because treatment plants are failing and pipes are bursting," the host said. "Texans have been lining up for clean water from public spigots, boiling their own, or even trying to melt snow. Yeah, melting snow for clean water. I mean you know that the infrastructure is screwed when your best option for water is to mug a snowman."

"But the saddest part is that these people are the lucky ones, because it turns out one poor Texan had to travel 800 miles, just to get heat, water and electricity," Noah added in a cheeky reference to Cruz's travels.

"I'm not even mad that you were selfish," he later said, addressing Cruz. "I'm mad that you were so stupid. How can you be in politics for 10 years and still have no idea how bad this would make you look?"