Ted Cruz Knocks ‘Complete Ass’ Sherrod Brown for Mask-Shaming on Senate Floor

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) accused Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) of acting like “a complete ass” after the Ohio Democrat asked Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AZ), who was presiding over the Senate Monday evening, to wear a mask.

“This is idiotic. Sherrod Brown is being a complete ass. He wears a mask to speak—when nobody is remotely near him—as an ostentatious sign of fake virtue,” Cruz said of Brown, adding that Sullivan “was over 50 feet away” as the Democrat made his request.

“Last I checked 50 feet is more than 6 feet,” Cruz added:

The clash occurred Monday evening after Brown took to the Senate floor to voice his opposition to Judith Shelton, a nominee for the Federal Reserve. But before he began his remarks, he asked Sullivan to put a mask on:

“I start by asking the presiding officer to wear a mask as he speaks and people below him are — I can’t tell you what to do, but I know that the behavior—” he said as Sullivan responded.

“I don’t wear a mask when I’m speaking, like most senators,” he said. “I don’t need your instruction.”

“I know you don’t need my instruction, but there clearly isn’t much interest in this body in public health,” Brown said.

“We have a president who hasn’t shown up at the coronavirus task force meeting in months,” he continued. “We have a majority leader who calls us back here to vote on an unqualified nominee and, at the same time, to vote for judge after judge after judge, exposing all the people who can’t say anything … and expose all the staff here.”

“The majority leader just doesn’t seem to care,” Brown added.

Many Democrats have come under fire in recent weeks for violating their own purported beliefs about mask-wearing and social distancing, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who joined a crowd of people in the streets of New York to celebrate after the media declared Joe Biden (D) the winner of the 2020 election. Videos show Schumer in the midst of crowds, not wearing a mask: