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Ted Cruz Stops by Shelly Luther's Salon for a Trim, 'True Authenticity' Leaves Her Sobbing

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Sen. Ted Cruz was apparently about to get into mullet territory. He hadn’t had a haircut in three months. Things were looking grim for the Texas senator.

Thankfully, Shelley Luther is able to do something about that.

Luther is both famous and free after a viral clip of her standing up to a judge who sentenced her to jail after she refused to apologize for opening her salon to clients in defiance of a stay-at-home order.

One day after she was out of jail, Cruz was at Luther’s Salon à la Mode to get her help with his hair.

According to KTVT-TV, Cruz’s wife Heidi said that he’d “start bringing mullets back” if he didn’t get a haircut soon.

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So, he knew where to go, flying from Houston to Dallas specifically to visit Luther’s place of business:

“We’re thrilled to be with you and know the whole state of Texas is standing with you, so thank you for your courage,” Cruz told Luther.

Should Shelley Luther have been released from prison?

Luther was also impressed with Cruz, who had prayed for her boyfriend while she was behind bars.

“It’s a nice gesture. His family actually called my boyfriend and prayed for him for 20 minutes while I was in jail,” she said. “To me that’s not political … that’s just really nice people reaching out and making sure that our family is OK.”

She broke down in tears during Cruz’s visit to the salon.

“When people reach out with true authenticity, it’s huge,” she said.

Luther became a conservative rallying cause after she was sentenced to seven days behind bars and a $7,000 fine from State District Judge Eric Moyé.

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Moyé was most famous — probably infamous — for his offer to allow Luther to remain free if “you would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that your own actions were selfish, putting your own interest ahead of those in the community in which you live.”

“I have much respect for this court and laws. I have never been in this position before and it’s not someplace that I want to be,” Luther said. “But I have to disagree with you sir, when you say that I’m selfish because feeding my kids — is not selfish. I have hair stylists that are going hungry because they’d rather feed their kids. So sir, if you think the law is more important than kids getting fed, then please go ahead with your decision but I am not going to shut the salon.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that Luther’s sentence was “outrageous.” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, meanwhile, said he would pay the fine or serve the sentence out. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin even dropped by the salon.

“We don’t know what to do with all of these celebrities coming in lately. I missed Mrs. Palin when I was held up for a little couple days,” Luther told the Texas senator.

Cruz, however, was the biggest conservative celebrity to have visited Luther and Salon á la Mode in the past few days and offered effusive support.

“I’m proud to stand with Shelly Luther. What happened to her was wrong. It was ridiculous to see someone sentenced to seven days in jail for cutting hair. That’s not right, that’s not justice and that’s not Texas,” Cruz told reporters after his incipient mullet was shorn.

At least on that last part, Texas’ Supreme Court has agreed.

On Thursday, Luther was released after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott modified his stay-at-home order so that confinement was no longer part of the potential suite of punishments.

That’s something that should have happened a lot earlier, but given the fact salons are now open in Texas, I don’t think you’re going to see anyone willing to send Luther back to jail for this.

As for the fine, a GoFundMe for Luther has raised over a half million dollars.

What’ll she do with that money?

“I have a lot of attorney’s fees, and some mortgage to catch up on, but we have decided to spread some of that gift — today — in South Dallas,” she said Friday.

“I’ve also reached out to the two ladies in Laredo, and I would like to pay for their attorney’s fees and any citations they were given … and maybe give them a little bit of head start money.”

And if that wasn’t paying it forward enough, she saved us from seeing Ted Cruz in a mullet. I think that would have been, as they might have said in Cruz’s favorite movie, inconceivable.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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