Ted Cruz of Texas, to speak at the convention, only to have him advocate not for voting for Trump, but for voting according to conscience.
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Even before the convention gaveled in, anti-Trump delegates were still trying to find a way to stop his nomination, attempting rules changes that would unbind them from him. His speech was more disciplined, less bombastic and certainly more organized than just about any I have seen him give in the past year.
Moments later in a radio interview with Charlie Sykes on WTMJ in Milwaukee, Walker was a bit more pointed.
Trump’s speech will officially mark his unexpected ascendance to the top of the GOP despite months of party leaders decrying his rhetoric bashing Muslims, veterans, women, Hispanics, immigrants and other Republicans.
“I guess he has to reconcile, did he have his fingers crossed or not?”
“The day that was abdicated was the day this became personal”, Cruz said. And the real estate titan revealed that he had seen Cruz’s controversial speech ahead of time.
The Texas senator was booed off the stage after telling the crowd, “vote your conscience”.
After Trump’s comments, the White House said the United States has an “ironclad” commitment to mutual defense among the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies. “Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution”. But Thursday, he made no excuses and pointed the finger back at Trump.
Once again, Trump explained, “The answer has to be “yes” or I would not have done it…I don’t play to lose”, though, once again, he qualified that answer to say he had not thought he would so easily crush the very large GOP field of hopefuls.
Trump’s speech offers a sharp contrast with that of the last Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, who in his speech criticized President Obama for “disappointing” the nation but offered a more uplifting vision. Trump has not renounced that remark.
Mr Cruz did say he would not vote for the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, however.
At a breakfast with the Texas delegation on Thursday morning, Cruz argued that he could not support a man who personally attacked his wife and father during the primaries.
“Oh my gosh, that’s the only thing I wish I had been in the hall for”, the conservative pundit said. He is wonderful. I don’t know if he’s here.
Painting a bleak picture of the state of the country, he said his presidency would usher in a new era putting America and ordinary people first.
“He made a pledge”.
Trump and Cruz were at loggerheads on the primary campaign trail: Cruz complaining that Trump was not a proper conservative and about his allegedly liberal “New York values” while the tycoon savaged Cruz as “Lyin’ Ted” and posted a deeply unflattering photograph of his banker wife, Heidi. “They reflect really well on Trump, I think”.
“It could hurt many politicians’ images”, said Mark Jones, a Rice University political scientist who has studied Cruz’s career closely. Cruz is deeply unpopular with many fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill, after leading a politically disastrous government shutdown in 2013 and clashing with party leadership in the Senate, and defenders were few among elected officials.
The leaked speech is just one in a series of snafus in a week Trump had hoped would help unify the party and show America that he’s ready to be its commander-in-chief. He said those voters should be assured by Trump’s pick of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for running mate and should be reminded of what will happen to the Supreme Court if Clinton picks the next several justices.
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Donald Trump prepares to give his nomination address today after attempts to forge party unity went up in the flames of lingering bitterness from the brutal primary campaign season. “And for that we can be grateful that he is our nominee”.
