Virtue signalling.

It's not always clear to me what people mean by "virtue signalling." Often it seems to mean "adopting a public position I don't like."

But watching Ted Cruz attack Beto for criticising a cop who broke into an innocent man's apartment and murdered him gives me a new appreciation for the term.

Taking a position that is obviously, objectively incorrect just to signal your boot-licking obsequiousness to government agents has to be it, right?

I mean there's no virtue in it, but Ted is plainly just trading the remnants of his dignity and credibility to yell "please love me!" at a bunch of cops and cop worshippers.