Ted Cruz, still refused to endorse him – and happily took the convention stage anyway.
Advertisement
In an appeal to anxious voters, Donald Trump is pledging Thursday night that “safety will be restored” if he is elected president, using his Republican convention address to cast Democrat Hillary Clinton as part of a political class causing the nation’s troubles. That’s code for “don’t support the nominee”.
Facing his home state delegation over breakfast, Cruz was met with alternating choruses of cheers and shouts of disapproval from the crowd clad in Texas flag shirts and cowboy hats.
Indeed, Trump was so lazy that he couldn’t even be bothered to arrange for competent speechwriting assistance for his wife, Melania Trump, resulting in an embarrassing plagiarism scandal that’s overshadowed the convention. “But you know what?”
“Yes, because I gave my word that I would”, Cruz replied. The powerful House Financial Services chairman added, “It’s time for all of us to put the primary in our past”.
Mr Trump has previously criticised the appearance of Mr Cruz’s wife, Heidi. I do know Mike Pence, so I was not surprised to see him deliver such eloquent, principled and rallying remarks that both explained his vision of conservatism and made the case that Trump was the candidate to make that vision a reality.
Addressing the “forgotten Americans” who he said worked hard but no longer had a voice, he said: “I am your voice”. Was there calculation behind Cruz’s non-endorsement?
“I am not sure Cruz elicited that same response tonight, but had Ford won in the fall, Reagan’s speech would probably have melted into the ether of history”, Mr. Shirley said. Each time, Cruz pivoted to a different line of critique. He slammed Republicans who would “attack as a traitor anyone who would question our candidate”. He talked up his stand as a principled conservative with the guts to speak his mind, poking at Trump critics who “turned tail and ran and didn’t come to the convention”.
Stephanopoulos, like most TV News veterans, continues to believe Trump is as bewildered as are they that the reality-TV star became the GOP’s pick.
“The speeches have all been well-received”, he said Friday.
But Cruz is who he is. One man held up a homemade “Clinton-Cruz 2020” sign.
“After 15 years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before”, Trump said, though he did not mention that those wars started under Obama’s Republican predecessor, George W. Bush. “I am hopeful”, he said of the prospect of eventually supporting Trump, saying he would be “listening” carefully to what Trump and his campaign said and did for the next several months. He compared his own courageous decision to speak to a less-than-friendly room to Trump’s attitude toward critics: “Can anyone imagine our nominee standing in front of voters answering questions like this?”
The more cautious strategy would have been to endorse Trump as some others have done this week, because if Trump loses by a small margin, Cruz could find himself with even fewer friends in the party than he has now, as many Republicans would no doubt argue that his personal petulance and anger toward Trump contributed to a narrow loss. “He’s basically got two choices either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, and I don’t understand why he wouldn’t throw his support behind our nominee knowing how different the world could look if Hillary Clinton gets to make those appointments”, DeJarlais told TPM.
“This is politics”, the man responded.
Since then, “all the top political talent in the state has been called to the sidelines”, said one Republican close to Kasich.
Advertisement
“My gut sense is that Cruz enabled them to express their true feelings”, Mr. Margolin said. I will tell the truth, I will not malign, I will not attack, I will not insult, I will tell the truth. This is not a game.
