The History of the Ted Cruz-Zodiac Killer meme

[TexasTowelie]

“Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer” is the greatest political meme of the 2016 election cycle — perhaps of all time. Throughout 2016 the internet was abuzz with tongue-in-cheek speculation that Cruz was the notorious serial killer who terrorized Northern California in the 1960s and 70s. But where did this meme come from and why did it become so popular?

The internet was making connections between Cruz and the Zodiac Killer long before 2016. The first known social media post about Cruz possibly being the Zodiac killer dates back to 2013, when Cruz spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference and vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Link to tweet

The second reference came a year later shortly after Cruz expressed opposition to net neutrality, calling it “Obamacare for the Internet.”

Link to tweet

For a while, the Ted Cruz-Zodiac Killer meme lived in obscure circles on the internet. But in 2016, during Cruz’s unsuccessful presidential campaign, it went viral.

Read more: https://texassignal.com/the-history-of-the-ted-cruz-zodiac-killer-meme/

[live love laugh]

1. The unkempt beard is an attempt at disguise.

[Bradshaw3]

2. Impossible!

Like that idiot could come up with the Zodiac codes.

[Gothmog]

4. But I and the other members of my family have the shirt

This makes me smile http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a53952/ted-cruz-zodiac-killer-tshirts-abortion/

The 2016 election cycle has already seen its share of weird conspiracy theories, but the craziest one by far is that GOP presidential candidate and Texas senator Ted Cruz is the infamous Zodiac killer who terrorized Northern California in the 1960s and 1970s with a spree of still-unsolved murders. The Daily Dot traces the origins of the theory, which recently spread through Twitter with hashtag #ZodiacTed, back to 2013. Now two Texas men have capitalized on this bizarre meme by selling "Ted Cruz Was the Zodiac Killer" shirts online, and they're donating the profits to an organization that helps fund abortions.

Jezebel reports that the shirt was created by friends Tim Faust and Rory Blank, who do not actually believe Cruz is the Zodiac killer, but who wanted to use the meme to show people that Cruz — who is anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage — is scary. "There's no way Ted Cruz is the Zodiac killer — the dates don't match up," the site notes, jokingly. "However, there's no way of knowing whether Ted Cruz has sworn with his every waking breath to further the agenda of the Zodiac Killer, whom he may or may not love."

As a true Texas Democrat, I got one of these shirts for each member of my family