‘When our actions do not, our fears make us traitors’: Ted Cruz trolled with Shakespeare quotes during literature dispute

Jokes came after NBC News anchor wrongly corrected senators quote of the Bard

Texas senatorTed Cruz has been trolled with Shakespeare quotes on Twitter after correcting a confused NBC anchor in a dispute over literature.

In a pithy tweet on Thursday, the Republican senator, who is attending the impeachment trial of Donald Trump this week, corrected a correspondent who wrongly said he had misquoted Shakespeare.

Andrea Mitchell, NBC News' chief Washington correspondent, incorrectly called the senator out for attributing a quote to describe the ongoing trial to Shakespeare, saying it was actually a quote from William Faulkner.

“@SenTedCruz says #ImpeachmentTrial is like Shakespeare full of sound and fury signifying nothing. No, that’s Faulkner,” she wrote on Twitter.

In his response, Sen Cruz responded by naming the act and scene of the quote, which was in fact from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

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“Methinks she doth protest too much. One would think NBC would know the Bard. Andrea, take a look at Macbeth act 5, scene 5,” he said, before re-writing the paragraph to prove his point.

The bizarre interaction amidst the historic impeachment trial quickly attracted attention from other Twitter users, who began to mock Sen Cruz with Shakespeare quotes of their own.

Ms Mitchell later issued an apology to Sen Cruz, acknowledging that she had made a mistake in initially correcting him.

“I clearly studied too much American literature and not enough Macbeth. My apologies to Sen Cruz,” she said.

Sen Cruz, an ardent Trump supporter, has faced significant criticism following the riot on 6 January, with some arguing that his support of Mr Trump’s baseless election claims facilitated the atmosphere that led to the riots.

His communications director resigned over the insurrection and a number of congressional colleagues called for his resignation in the wake of the attack.

In an ongoing feud, Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Mr Cruz "had a role" in the insurrection that lead to the deaths of five people, including a Capitol police officer.

The impeachment trial continues with additional arguments from Democrats on Thursday, followed by up to 16 hours of remarks from the former president's attorneys mounting their defence.

In order to secure a conviction, 17 Senate Republicans would have to vote against Mr Trump. Six Republican senators voted to proceed with the trial on Tuesday.