Ted Cruz Says CIA Has ‘Come a Long Way From Jason Bourne’—People Point Out He’s Fictional
Jason Bourne #JasonBourne
Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been widely mocked on social media after he reacted to a CIA recruitment ad by claiming the agency had “come a long way from Jason Bourne,” the fictional agent.
The Texas senator joined a chorus of conservative voices who criticized the CIA promotional video promoting diversity inside the organization.
In the video, part of the agency’s “Humans of CIA” on its YouTube channel, a 36-year-old Latina woman described herself as a “woman of color,” a “cisgender millennial” and “intersectional.”
The clip, first uploaded in March, has recently gained traction on Twitter and has been widely panned by conservatives, including Sen. Cruz, who asked what America’s rivals would make of the ad
This CIA Recruitment Video Is Getting Slammed For Being Overly ‘Woke’
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Sen. Cruz tweeted: “If you’re a Chinese communist, or an Iranian Mullah, or Kim Jong-un…would this scare you?
“We’ve come a long way from Jason Bourne.”
But, referencing the agent created by novelist Robert Ludlum and made famous on screen by Matt Damon, Cruz opened the floodgates to mockery from people who were keen to point out Jason Bourne is a fictional character.
One Twitter user posted: “Jason Bourne was so cool and real. Remember when Harrison Ford was POTUS in real life and threw that guy out of Air Force One?”
Another added: “Ted thinks the Jason Bourne Movies were documentaries…yikes.”
A third mentioned Tom Clancy character Jack Ryan in a comment, which read: “Excellent point. Have you thought about bringing in Jack Ryan to set the agency straight?”
Other conservatives shared Cruz’s views and blasted the CIA ad, branding it “woke” or doing little to inspire fear in the enemies of the U.S.
Conspiracy theorist and right-wing commentator Dinesh D’Souza tweeted: “The CIA just released a recruitment video full of woke propaganda and America’s enemies are laughing their heads off.”
Donald Trump Jr. echoed D’Souza and Cruz’s sentiments regarding the ad, claiming it did little to inspire fear in America’s enemies.
He posted: “China & Russia are laughing their asses off watching CIA go full woke. ‘Cisgender.’ ‘Intersectional.’ It’s like @TheBabylonBee is handling CIA’s comms.
“If you think about it, wokeness is the kind of twisted PSYOP a spy agency would invent to destroy a country from the inside out.”
In the ad, the Latina woman said: “I am a woman of color. I am a mom. I am a cisgender millennial who has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.”
She later said: “I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise…I did not sneak into CIA. I earned my way in and I earned my way up the ranks.
“I used to struggle with imposter syndrome. But at 36, I refuse to internalize misguided patriarchal ideas of what a woman can or should be.”
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