Critics went espresso on the insults against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) after he bashed coffee shop workers as βslacker baristasβ for not paying off their student loans.
On his βVerdict With Ted Cruzβ podcast earlier this week, the conservative called young working Americans βslackers,β who will benefit from the Biden administrationβs student loan forgiveness plan. President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that up to $20,000 in student loan debt will be canceled for some borrowers.
Cruz suggested that if young people could βget off the bong for a minuteβ they might manage to βhead downβ to the polling station and vote.
βIf you are that slacker barista who wasted seven years in college studying completely useless things, now has loans and canβt get a job, Joe Biden just gave you 20 grand,β Cruz said on the podcast.
βYou know, maybe you werenβt gonna vote in November, and suddenly you just got 20 grand!β he added.
However, the median wage as of 2021 for food and beverage workers is $12.49 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recently, a barista posted a video on TikTok explaining that two drinks may cost more than his earnings for one hour of work, The New York Post reported.
βIt is so fucked up that as a barista, someone can come up and order two drinks that cost more than what I make in an hour,β he said in the viral video. βTwo drinks that I can make in two minutes. And I make less than that in one hour.β
Appalled critics on Twitter slammed Cruz for denigrating working Americans.