Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Thursday retweeted a video comparing promotional advertising by the Russian and the American military, writing that "perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea", referring to the US military ad.
The video showed an ad for the Russian army, in which masculine soldiers are seen exercising, gearing up and conducting military drills, and an outtake from the US army's animated series 'The Calling', in which army recruits share their stories on being "raised by two moms" or "growing up gay".
This post, along with the comparison clip, immediately went viral, trending Cruz's name and the word "Russian" on Twitter.
The GOP Texas senator was not alone in sharing his thoughts on the comparison of the two ads. As it often happens on social media, users were divided, with some attacking Cruz because he shared "Russian propaganga videos", and some supporting his stance.
Many people remembered that Cruz fled to the sunny beach-said resort town of Cancun, Mexico, in the middle of a winter storm in Texas that ravaged state infrastructure, leaving many residents and businesses without power. Others slammed Cruz for whart appeared to be his verbal attack on US soldiers.
Some users attempted to look deeper, offering their own plot twists.
Cruz's criticism comes shortly after a CIA ad video was blasted by some netizens for being "woke", as they slammed a clip for celebrating diversity rather than the professional achievements of law enforcement and the military. The US Army's animated series was also labeled "woke" by some, with users mocking the cartoon clips for managing to "make something worse than the CIA ad".