What I honestly don't get about the Cruz thing beyond the obvious bad optics is even if he couldn't do anything substantial to help right away natural disasters are perfect photo ops for politicians! Shake a few hands, look all bundled up in a coat in the snow talking to an official, hand out water or blankets or something, hug someone looking distressed, boom easy ad for the next race. Cold view of the world, but I mean that has to be in the intro class to running for office.
He did it in 2018 with Hurricane Harvey, so he has the playbook.