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Good Friday morning. I'm Adrienne Hurst and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing.

Well, Texas is going through horrific stories. Ted Cruz has had a lot to say over the years about

Dems vacationing and golfing during times of crisis. So the serious side-eye thrown his way over his trip to

Cancun, while millions of Texans shivered in their homes without power this week, might not come

as a surprise. Fled Cruz. Ted fled. Senator Snowbird, Cancun Cruz. Playbook co-author Ryan Liza

unpacks what just happened. There's something

refreshingly normal about the Ted Cruz scandal. I started having second thoughts almost the moment

I sat down on the plane. The drama of Cruz returning from sunny Mexico, chastened and apologetic

for fleeing Texas Wednesday, while three million of his constituents

remained without power, was a kind of throwback to an era when politicians could be embarrassed.

Look, it was obviously a mistake, and in hindsight, I wouldn't have done it.

The Trump years were dominated by one figure defined by his inability to be shamed,

and supporters defined by their unwillingness

to be outraged by his behavior. A lot of observers wondered if the age of political scandal is dead,

if partisans on both sides were so defined by their hatred of their rival political tribe,

that they would let their own leaders get away with just about anything. And then a bearded man appearing to be Ted Cruz was photographed with a roller bag at the United counter at Houston's George Bush Airport, ready to board a plane to Cancun. The best and worst of the internet was activated. I don't know if it's true. I saw a photo circulating on Twitter, and I don't know if CNN can help. Twitter sleuths fired up their airline apps and learned crews seemed to be on an upgrade list for the flight. Ted Cruz is in Cancun right now. And if that's true, I mean, people are going to remember this. We're working to verify that. The bearded man appeared to be wearing the same gray come and get it mask that Cruz favors. The mask celebrates the Texas Revolution against Mexico. The Houston police leaked

that they had escorted crews through the airport. In the pictures that flooded social media,

one could detect Cruz's growing alarm. He clutches his phone with a look of worry in an airport lounge,

and again on board the plane in coach. He didn't get the upgrade.

He later confirmed what was suggested by the pictures.

He was closely following the growing storm of criticism in real time.

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