Cruz using his children as an excuse shows either of these:

1) He's a pushover and his children, that we can assume he loves, he doesn't have control or authority over them for whatever reason; and in fact they'd have control over him.

2) He's using his children as an excuse to avoid taking accountability, and the problem down the whole line is a lack of accountability.

I agree the necessity of being in-person is debatable, however regardless, the lack of common sense to understand how it would be easily perceived is quite astonishing.

You're blaming the intern here - in fact it was the policies and protocol that allowed that whole shenanigans to unfold how it did: it shouldn't have been the interns responsibility to begin with - protocol should have prevented it, protocol and process that in a chain of command/accountability should reach the CEO if the protocol is adequate.

Of course the hype about his trip is exaggerated, that's to be expected - perhaps we've all been attempted to be gaslighted by Trump for so long that this doesn't seem like a big deal, voted in representatives not being actively engaged in military fashion to protect and help "his" people. We're so used to unqualified, inadequate, incompetent politicians being voted into power - that this seems okay - how many people died so far, how much damage was caused leading to economic damage and reducing productivity of those harmed - especially if they have to fight insurance companies for damage; it speaks to Eric Weinstein's commentary that it's only during wartime that the true leaders appear out of necessity.

Indeed, the people of Texas have been manipulated, arguably controlled subtly for many decades, directed by the duopoly - crafted heavily by industrial complexes - to put relatively bad people into the spotlight, for the mainstream media complex, controlled by a handful of conglomerates, to then amplify the two main narratives of either side of the duopoly. So is it really the people's fault? Yes and no, of course with the right policy proposals all of this can be countered strongly, and the change will cascade quickly, exponentially - policy proposals such as Andrew Yang's core policies; it's all the yin-yang dance of the universe, people need to suffer to learn - to pay attention, and hopefully we're at a part of a cycle where healing and creation is rapidly approaching, hopefully this isn't just a foreshock - where Trump's wave is still building to a tsunami - and we're yet awaiting the major earthquake before everything destabilizes and perhaps we're going to lead into a civil war - and perhaps even global war will start in parallel, if democracies can't be stabilized enough to create multi-lateral trade agreements to economically funnel resources away from the known bad actors who aren't behaving or falling in line to peace and freedom.

It's complex, there are systems that most don't know or understand or consider - and these systems self-perpetuate like a virus to keep counter attacks at bay; the autonomous immune system of America and the world is failing, inadequate. Luckily the purpose and value of distributing power, control - separating Federal government from the States - and further diversifying risk via having many States with their own varying rules - allows neighbouring States to shine light/the truth onto the States that have been darkened, influenced, lead too far astray by bad actors (domestic and foreign).

It's a lack of integrity in the systems - these flows that lead to multi-generational trauma, karma - action, consequences - passed down from one generation to the next. It's why my focus for all my projects is health: there are still ripples passed through stress-trauma of parents of war onto their children, and onto their children, and so on. We are generating new active trauma while not doing enough to support new people born or migrating to our more/relatively stable countries - and not enough to heal the existing population.

Also, I'm not sure I understand the parallel question. I do however think it's an elected person's responsibility to counter any claims - arguably by showing he was doing everything in his power he could help the people, and that there was nothing more he could have been doing + with proof to back it up; let alone traveling during a pandemic, where most people are prevented from traveling - that alone is terrible role modelling vs. AOC doing a social media effort to raise $5 million for the people of Texas. The issue is really the contrast is sickening - from the weak inadequacy of doing what's ideal and right vs. not - we need to purge the system ideally through non-violent means, America needs to throw up - clear all of the shit - the whole "clear the swamp" idea, the mantra that Trump misappropriated to rally and align with mainstream media narratives of demonizing the unknown - when in fact it's the devil himself who's managing and rallying the swamp; allowing those not blinded by or manipulated, indoctrinated into their control and lack of critical thinking and reasoning, and skills for integrity.