But, as the crowd realised Cruz was coming to the end of his speech without formally endorsing his former rival, chants of “we want Trump” and boos were heard from the a section of the audience.
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“I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father”. Cruz mentioned his party’s nominee, Donald Trump, just once, offering him simple congratulations. Delegates, though, said there’s fat chance of that happening after this week.
Earlier in the week, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who supported Trump at the convention, told The New York Times that Trump made a “rookie mistake” when he questioned a core commitment to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies. “His speech was pathetic, absolutely pathetic. I will never, ever, support him”. He didn’t go out there and bash Donald Trump.
Either way, a central question now for the party will become how to restore the post-Donald Trump brand, return to conservative principles and re-emerge as a genuine and appealing alternative to the Democratic Party, which is also now struggling with its own radicals.
Within hours of his speech, Mr. Cruz was fundraising off it, vowing that his own political movement will continue.
The senator added, “When I spoke to him on the phone, I told him, ‘I am not going to endorse you'”.
As the crowd chanted: “Lock her up” for her handling of USA foreign policy, Trump waved them off and said: “Let’s defeat her in November”.
And he also challenged the notion that his remarks were detrimental.
TRUMP: If you turn on television, you – you turn on some of the dishonest media, you’ll see that, oh, wow.
“The speeches have all been well-received”, he said Friday.
Everybody was freaking out, everybody was yelling, but because I was in the middle of it, I couldn’t really tell what people were saying or what was going on. And this was a speech that I think caught some people by surprise. “It was a compilation of the same themes from the primaries”, he said of Trump’s speech. Democrat Hillary Clinton, in a tweet, quickly echoed Cruz, saying, “Vote your conscience”.
In the months after that, he managed to constantly make inflammatory remarks against women, Muslims, Mexicans, foreign countries, belittle his opponents by calling them “Lying Ted”, “Little Marco” and “Crooked Hillary”, and still plowed through all the controversies that ensued.
“Conventions are times of excitement”.
The crowd’s boos quickly switched to cheers as Trump entered the arena at the moment Cruz finished. Cruz, Kasich, Jeb Bush and many of those who are no-shows at this year’s convention are banking that the Trump-styled Republican Party is a passing fancy.
The gathering’s open secret was that Cruz came to audition for 2020 – an ambition that largely counts on Trump losing this year.
The no-longer-presumptive presidential nominee also thanked running mate Mike Pence, saying the IN governor has helped him strengthen ties to the Republican Party.
As president, Trump said he would defend an ally against Russian aggression only after first ensuring that the allies have fulfilled their obligations to the U.S.
“Cruz was speaking to the 70 percent of the nation that has serious reservations about Trump“.
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Zucker dismissed the talk about whether Trump can unify a fractured GOP, signs of which were evident at the convention.
