After Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told Ted Cruz to “keep our name out of your mouth,” the Texas Republican took to Twitter and absolutely eviscerated her on her own city’s murder rate and failure to prosecute gun crimes:

1/x Mayor, your anger is misplaced. Virtually every year, Chicago has the most murders of any city in America. In 2017, the top five were: Chicago (650 murders), Baltimore (343), Philadelphia (317), New York (290), and Los Angeles (286). https://t.co/JYsaYcxgSF https://t.co/wcFc4MflzV — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 3, 2019

2/x All five of those cities have had Democratic mayors for decades and aggressive gun control policies—none seems to be working. Your explanation (“blame Indiana!”) doesn’t hold water. There are 27 states with GOP governors. Chicago is not alone in having neighboring red states. — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 3, 2019

3/x But Chicago’s murder totals are often DOUBLE the next closest city. So how do you explain the big cities in red states, without aggressive gun control laws, where murder rates are MUCH lower than Chicago? — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 3, 2019

4/x Maybe, rather than getting angry when others point out the tragically high murder rate in Chicago, you put aside the partisan talking points & the failed gun-control policies Chicago has pursued for decades. Instead, lock up the violent criminals who are committing murder… — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 3, 2019

5/x …PREVENT felons & fugitives from illegally buying firearms, and ALLOW law-abiding citizens (who are right now obeying Chicago’s prohibition) to exercise their constitutional right to protect their own lives and their families. — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 3, 2019

Mayor Lightfoot dodged on her record and instead again blamed Republicans for not passing legislation on background checks and assault weapons:

1)@tedcruz, if you really care about Chicagoans, Texans and everyone facing gun violence, take action. Tell @senatemajldr it’s time for

✔️Universal background checks

✔️An assault weapons ban

Those reforms will save lives. Do your job. https://t.co/eRjynl7dJN — Lori Lightfoot (@LightfootForChi) September 4, 2019

2)If you want to come to Chicago and learn about the root causes of gun violence, I’ll be glad to show you around & we can have that convo. But enough with this dishonest use of our city as a cheap symbol to cover for the @gop’s unwillingness to protect their constituents. — Lori Lightfoot (@LightfootForChi) September 4, 2019

We know the “root cause,” mayor. It’s that Chicago keeps releasing criminals instead of prosecuting them:

Mayor, the most significant “root cause” is that criminals have all the guns. One place to start is not releasing back to the public, but rather locking up violent, repeat offenders before they murder again: https://t.co/U2Hyn0CSiH https://t.co/v7PLn0ICnc — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 4, 2019

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Related:

Chicago’s mayor tells Ted Cruz to ‘keep our name out of your mouth’ after gun control tweet https://t.co/tlf3L5fiZF — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 3, 2019

Dana Loesch calls out Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for her 'leadership cowardice' and refusal to see the reality of Chicago's gun control failures https://t.co/mJUXBjvSht — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 3, 2019