'Fixated on Barbie': Ted Cruz brutally mocked for attacking new movie as 'Chinese communist propaganda'

19 July 2023

Veteran Washington Post columnist and Never Trump conservative George Will has described Republicans of the past as "bookish," and he means it in a favorable way. Will, a scathing critic of the MAGA movement and its buffoonish tendencies, clearly longs for the days of William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman and a more intellectual brand of conservatism.

But in 2023, the "bookish" conservatives that Will fondly remembers are outnumbered by far-right culture warriors who use pop-culture references to agitate their base. The highly performative Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has a long history of doing that, and his latest target is the new "Barbie" movie directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie.

During an interview with the Daily Signal, Cruz claimed that "Barbie" incorporates "Chinese communist propaganda" in an effort to brainwash "young girls." Cruz tried to paint himself as a concerned parent, noting, "I'm the dad of two young daughters."

Vanity Fair's Katie Rich, in an article published on July 19, slams Cruz's anti-"Barbie" crusade as yet another pop-culture misfire that is making him look ridiculous.

Rich observes, "Cruz has been fixated on Barbie for a while now — though he must be used to picking fights with pop culture icons that are inevitably going to remain way more popular than he is…. Back in 2021, the senator accused Big Bird of promoting government propaganda, and earlier this year, he launched an investigation into Bud Light. He tried to claim that Disney was on its way to showing 'Mickey and Pluto going at it' — he really did! — and got so fixated on some anti-racist children's books that he wound up driving up their sales."

The Vanity Fair journalist continues, "That could very well be what winds up happening with 'Barbie,' which is currently projected to make as much as $100 million domestically in its opening weekend. For anyone who was on the fence about seeing 'Barbie' but enjoys sticking it to Ted Cruz, your decision has just been made."

Rich notes that Cruz "is siding with the Vietnamese government, which has banned the release of 'Barbie.'"

Vanity Fair's full article is available at this link.

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