It may not be the first rule of launching a presidential campaign, but it’s got to be in the top five: Secure your Internet identity. But it’s one rule that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who launched his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination Monday morning, and his team apparently overlooked.
Cruz appeared on stage in front of a largely conservative and evangelical Protestant crowd at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, invoking God, Ronald Reagan, and the founders, and pummeling President Obama. He was particularly adamant about the need to strengthen border security, which made it particularly ironic that at the same time, the website www.TedCruz.com was displaying a rather different message.
Related: Ted Cruz: 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Him
The site, plainly controlled by someone other than Cruz and his supporters, shows viewers a black screen with this message in all caps: “SUPPORT PRESIDENT OBAMA. IMMIGRATION REFORM NOW!”
In other evidence the nascent Cruz campaign might not have its social media strategy completely nailed down as yet, near the end of his speech the senator asked listeners to join his “army” of supporters by sending a text message indicating support.
“Text the word ‘Constitution’ to 33733,” Cruz urged the crowd. However, the Jumbotron above his head was giving different instructions, telling the audience to text the word ‘Imagine’ to the number. (Cruz had spent much of the speech urging his audience to “imagine” a different United States of America.)
Cruz, though, is nothing if not smooth on stage – and when he noticed the discrepancy, said, “You can also text ‘imagine.’ We’re versatile.”
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