Ted Cruz just compared rape victims to a man who climbed on a train and electrocuted himself

You can't make this stuff up.

On Tuesday, President Trump's D.C. Circuit Court nominee Neomi Rao faced a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A slew of Democrats, joined by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa), made sure to question Rao on her past writings that suggested "intoxicated women were partly responsible for date rape," CBS News notes. And while Rao apologized for and recanted those views on Tuesday, Cruz still seemed to come to her defense.

Cruz, for some reason invoking his 8- and 10-year-old daughters, said he likes to advise college students "not to drink to excess." Any student who does so "risks being a victim, risks being vulnerable," Cruz added. He then recalled a fellow student in college "who who drank to excess and then tragically got on top of a train and electrocuted himself," adding that the student "lost three of his limbs."

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Rao was nominated to fill the spot vacated by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and currently runs the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. In an opinion column written when she was in college, Rao said unless a woman's drinks were "forced ... down her throat," drinking "to the point where she can no longer choose" is "part of her choice."

Rao on Tuesday said she "cringe[s]" while "looking back at some of those writings," and added that she has "matured as a thinker and a writer and indeed as a person."