Ted Cruz deletes tweet after mixing up Western Australia with Washington

Texas senator Ted Cruz was forced into an apparent U-turn on Twitter after he complained about “power drunk” Democrats introducing Covid health measures before realising he was attacking lawmakers almost 10,000 miles away in Western Australia.

The Republican, who swiftly deleted the remarks on Wednesday, had confused a Facebook post from “WA Government” for that of Washington State. Screenshots of the debacle were widely circulated on the social media platform.

Mr Cruz, before deleting the tweet, had raged against “Blue-state Dems” who were “power-drunk authoritarian kill-joys” and wrote: “Washington State: NO DANCING ALLOWED!!!”

He also appeared to ignore the Kangaroos on the “WA Government” account post, and was instantly inundated with alerts to his mistake – with the tweet boomeranging on the Trump ally.

Adam Kinzinger, a fellow Republican and Cruz-Trump critic, was among the dozens of Twitter users who mocked the Texas senator for confusing Washington State and Western Australia.

“Since Ted Cruz deleted this, I’ll post as a reminder to all of us to DO YOUR RESEARCH before posting misinformation. WA means ‘Western Australia’ not ‘Washington state.’,” Mr Kinzinger wrote.

The abbreviation “WA” is a common moniker for the US state as well as the western Australian territory that on Monday announced that it was extending a range of Covid health measures to combat the spread of the virus ahead of News Years Eve celebrations.

Dancing is banned (except for weddings), nightclubs are due to remain closed, and Australians are asked to remain outdoors when it is not possible to keep a physical distance. Private parties are however permitted, albeit without dancing.

In October, Mr Cruz described Australia as “the Texas of the Pacific” and complained about Covid health measures introduced by the country’s government, who he said had enacted a “tyranny”.

“I love the Aussies. Their history of rugged independence is legendary; I’ve always said Australia is the Texas of the Pacific,” Mr Cruz said. “The Covid tyranny of their current government is disgraceful and sad. Individual liberty matters. I stand with the people of Australia.”

While the US has seen more than 820,000 deaths from Covid and 53 million infections, Australia has recorded a far lower 2,200 deaths and 340,000 cases, according to annalysis from The New York Times.