Cruz: We Should Go to 2022 Olympics and ‘Highlight China’s Oppression’

On Tuesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued against a full boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China and said the U.S. needs to “go and highlight China’s oppression. We go and tell the world about what’s happening. And that courage is something the Biden administration doesn’t want to do, doesn’t like to do. That courage is something American corporations are terrified to do.”

Cruz said, “I think everything we can do to shine a light on the atrocities of China, on the murder, on the torture, on the genocide, on the concentration camps, I think everything we can do is good and positive. And so, I agree with the diplomatic boycott. It’s something I’ve called [for] for a long time. I don’t agree with what some people are calling for, which is a boycott of our athletes, which is stopping our athletes from going to the Olympics. I think that would be a mistake. I understand the sentiment behind it, but it was the same sentiment that led Jimmy Carter to do that in 1980, and I think it didn’t work then. I don’t think it’s fair to punish our athletes.”

He added, “I’d do more than just a diplomatic boycott.” And “I think we go and speak the truth. We go and highlight China’s oppression. We go and tell the world about what’s happening. And that courage is something the Biden administration doesn’t want to do, doesn’t like to do. That courage is something American corporations are terrified to do.”

Cruz also stated that American companies shouldn’t advertise at the games.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett