Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), claimed in a radio interview on Tuesday that criticism of his decision to leave Texas during a winter storm and travel to Cancun, Mexico, came about because some people "are suffering from Trump withdrawal."

Cruz stole away to the tropical resort city as millions of Texans suffered through a winter storm that blanketed the state in snow, lowered temperatures to unbearable levels of cold, and triggered widespread power outages.

Cruz gave an interview to conservative radio host Todd Starnes on his eponymously named program and was asked to comment on the days of controversy that erupted.

"We're at a crazy time right now and we've seen a whole lot of folks in the media, a whole lot of Democrats try to use this and blow it up," Cruz complained.

He added, "Frankly, I think a lot of them are suffering from Trump withdrawal, where for four years they've been obsessed with Donald Trump and they don't know what to do with themselves anymore."

Cruz admitted that the trip was a "mistake," but said it was one "because it gave an awful lot of folks an excuse to try to just demagogue."

While Cruz was traveling back and forth between Texas and Mexico, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) raised money that was used to provide more than a million meals for people affected by the storms.

From the Feb. 23 edition of The Todd Starnes Show:

TODD STARNES, host: So, the whole point is, why are people aggrieved by this? Quite frankly, I know exactly where you guys were staying, it's a great hotel, and I suspect every other person in Texas would have loved to have gone as well because of the situation there.
So, look, I get it, bad optics, but Senator, I mean, come on.
TED CRUZ: Yeah, look, we're at a crazy time right now and we've seen a whole lot of folks in the media, a whole lot of Democrats try to use this and blow it up. Frankly, I think a lot of them are suffering from Trump withdrawal, where for four years they've been obsessed with Donald Trump and they don't know what to do with themselves anymore.
Look, last week was a really tough week for Texas. We had two serious winter storms that hit back to back, and as a consequence, the power grid went down and four million Texans lost power. Heidi and I were among them, we lost power at our home for two days, and after a couple of days, our daughters said to us, "Hey, why don't we go somewhere? Let's get somewhere where we're not shivering cold."
And so, we booked a flight to take them to the beach and we were doing it to try to be good parents but at the same time, in hindsight it was obviously a mistake because it gave an awful lot of folks an excuse to try to just demagogue and to try to really distract from the issue that mattered, which was getting power back on, which thankfully most Texans now have had power restored and also more broadly, making sure this never happens again, addressing the structural issues that led to four million Texans losing power.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.