“The Republican Party needs to be united behind Trump”, she said. No mention, no kind words, no endorsement.
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Trump took the stage in Cleveland facing a daunting array of challenges, many of his own making.
As the chants and boos grew louder, Cruz paused and acknowledged those sitting directly in front of him. And almost every speaker that yelled at their senator implored him to endorse Trump, with Cruz repeatedly declining to give an inch. The popular governor was in Cleveland for convention-related events but didn’t address the convention, nor has he endorsed the nominee. I heard some people say he’s betting on Trump losing in a landslide. “I can’t remember seeing a politician do something like that”. “I didn’t feel Cruz was uniting the party”. “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it”.
“If we can’t make the case for the American people that voting for our party’s nominee is consistent with voting your conscience, is consistent with defending freedom and being faithful to the Constitution, then we are not going to win and we don’t deserve to win”, he said. “We will stop it”, Trump said. You just don’t see that very often.
Instead of projecting party unity and reaching out to the undecided voters who will decide the victor in November, the conclave that launched the general election for the GOP has spotlighted splits and stumbles, chaos and conspiracies – a narrative that might be good for attracting ratings but bad for reassuring voters.
Cruz – who is widely expected to run in 2020 should Trump lose to Hillary Clinton – was forced to wave and smile before completing his remarks and exiting to more jeers.
Cruz reaffirmed that he would not vote for Hillary Clinton, and it was unclear whether the Texans confronted him were more than a vocal minority.
Jeers erupted from Trump supporters in the crowd, and Cruz’s wife, Heidi, was escorted out by security amid the shouting. He added, “It’s the same thing as a trucking company giving money to both sheriff candidates”.
“They knew exactly what I was going to say”, Cruz said, convincing him that they believed his delivering that message would encourage people to get out to vote. Pence self-identified, in Cruz-like fashion, “as a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican”, in that order. And that remains – at least for now – a hurdle too high for Cruz.
Ted Cruz’s candidacy may have ended long ago, but his rivalry with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump clearly did not.
“I love the media”, Trump said with a smile as he tested the microphone.
It is unclear whether he had understood in advance what his failure to endorse Mr Trump in a prime-time speech would produce on the floor of the arena. Math is on his side.
Just like Wednesday night’s speech, Cruz was met with applause, yet dismissed with boos on Thursday. For those of us who actually want to prevent that nightmare, we pray for Cruz to join the fight and heal this unfortunate and unnecessary conflict. Does that sound like Trump to you?
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That’s a man putting his principles – regardless of whether you agree with them – over politics.
