The climate crises is already having devastating effects around the world—penguin chicks starving by the thousands in Antarctica, wildfires raging out of control in California, years of extreme drought in Australia. But despite such well-documented and widely reported accounts of the myriad manifestations of climate change, in a very misplaced attempt at mocking his former Senate challenger Beto O’Rourke on Twitter, Ted Cruz suggested that the only possible consequences of climate change are rising sea levels. Thankfully, the entire internet was there to set him straight.

During CNN’s Thursday night climate town hall event for Democratic presidential candidates, O’Rourke said that his hometown of El Paso “will be uninhabitable, will not sustain human life along this current trajectory unless something dramatically and fundamentally change.” Replying to a video of the moment, Cruz tweeted, “Um, El Paso is land-locked." He followed with a GIF of Kevin Costner in Waterworld, captioned, “Beto next year in El Paso.”

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Beto next year in El Paso.... pic.twitter.com/BDWVJ2LyYz — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 5, 2019

Of course, O’Rourke never said that rising water levels would imperil El Paso, a city that has seen record-breaking heat in recent summers and that is undertaking efforts to fill its taps with recycled sewage water as droughts become more severe. And it’s more than a little alarming that Cruz, veteran climate science denier though he may be, doesn’t seem to even be aware of the effects experts say the changing climate will have on Texas —the state he represents in the U.S. Senate.

Luckily, Twitter users were happy to enlighten him.

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Ted, do you think the only effect of climate change is related to sea levels rising, or are you just a liar? — Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) September 5, 2019

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Ted Cruz is a good reminder that getting an Ivy League education doesn't mean you're actually smart. — Pé (@4everNeverTrump) September 5, 2019

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Apparently, to Cruz, 120F is okay as long as there's no ocean nearby. — Markos Moulitsas (@markos) September 5, 2019

Sorry, Ted. Perhaps you should focus your energy on beard maintenance and let the pros worry about all that fancy science.

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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