When you run for president, you need money. Lots and lots of money. Now, that usually means huge donations from a few shadowy billionaire types, but that's not the only source of income these politicians have. They also sell the public weird tchotchkes with their name plastered on them. Everyone does this. See Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" hats or Bernie Sanders' "Feel the Bern" mugs.

Well, Ted Cruz is no exception. But in addition to the standard coffee mugs and hats and such, Ted Cruz has another section of his store that focuses on art created by a conservative street artist (who knew there was such a thing?!) named Sabo. His work is...a little weird for a politician's official site. Take for instance this poster:

I don't know about you, but when I think "presidential," I think Teddy boy covered in gnarly tats, smoking a cig. Or how about this poster:

I know when I saw Straight Outta Compton this year, I thought to myself, "You know, this is just like the story of Senator Ted Cruz and his crusade to defund Obamacare. Only with more Ice Cube."

You can buy both of these posters from Cruz's website, which I guess is a way for Cruz to show he gets a certain kind of young person. But on the other hand, doesn't it just feel like these kind of miss the mark in capturing any part of Ted Cruz's personality? The Obama Hope posters tapped into a real and identifiable aspect of Obama's persona, where these seem to be coming from the perspective that Ted Cruz is a guy we all think of as a cool badass, and not a guy who comes off like your dorky conservative uncle trying really hard to be a cool badass.

But if you're into Machine-Gun Bacon, maybe these posters resonate with you. In which case, by all means enjoy them.