Texas Senator Ted Cruz praised the Daily Wire's Matt Walsh and Libs of TikTok.
During an episode of Cruz's podcast Verdict: With Ted Cruz, the Texas Senator and co-host Ben Ferguson discussed a New York Times podcast claiming Republican strategists had made a "concerted decision" to focus on transgender identity and rights.
Cruz noted Adam Nagourney, who was featured on the New York Times podcast, acknowledged gay rights groups embraced transgender ideology to continue raising money.
“They’re envisioning some nefarious Republican strategist in a smoke-filled room saying, ‘This is the issue,’” Cruz said. "The campaign against transgender rights has mobilized conservatives, now they don’t name them, they don’t know who it is, either. And they’re making it up.”
“Here’s the dirty little secret: Most Republican officeholders are terrified to talk about this,” he said, claiming 40 of his 48 fellow Republican Senators wouldn't address transgender rights "if you put a gun to their head."
Cruz said the bulk of the Republican party was made up of legislators who wanted to reduce capital gains taxes and avoid "ticking off" the chamber of commerce.
"The idea that it was some political strategist that came up with this is insane."
“Frankly, the people talking about this are a handful of journalists and activists, people like Matt Walsh. Matt Walsh has done heroic efforts exposing what’s going on," he said, also referring to Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik.
“Not only is there not this mysterious Republican strategist. Almost all the Republican strategists are like, ‘No, no, no, please don’t talk about these issues. Please don’t talk about them. We’re scared of them,'" Cruz said, refuting the New York Times podcast's claims.
“The New York Times just acknowledged that on the Left, it is a business model decision. The irony is on the right, everyone engaged in the business model is saying, ‘Don’t get anywhere near this,'” he concluded. “And I gotta say, look, my view is very simple. Which is we should protect children."
"No child, no 8-year-old, no 9-year-old, no 10-year-old, has the emotional maturity to make a decision that is life-altering."
Last week, the Daily Wire offered Walsh's 2022 documentary What is a Woman?, which highlights transgender ideology, free to stream for 24-hours through the conservative media outlet's Twitter account.
The documentary was briefly labeled as "hateful conduct" and had it's visibility limited on its Thursday night premiere.
Twitter owner Elon Musk addressed the confusion by noting the label and limited sharing capability was a "mistake."
On Saturday, the documentary's "hateful conduct" label was removed and full sharing capability was restored. Musk retweeted the documentary, encouraging parents view the film.
The conservative media outlet subsequently announced What is a Woman? would be made available through Sunday.
The film amassed over 170 million views during the promotional streaming period.
