In a Facebook post Friday, Cruz says he’s chose to vote for Trump “after many months of careful consideration, of prayer, and searching my own conscience”.
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Since the convention speech, polls have suggested that Cruz’s popularity was slipping nationally and in Texas – where he could face a primary challenger for re-election in 2018.
“Our country is in crisis”, Cruz said Friday in defending his Trump endorsement.
“I’ve made this decision for two reasons”.
The next day, Cruz held firm, telling angry Republican delegates that his pledge to support the party’s nominee was shelved after Trump targeted his wife and father during the primaries.
“This Cruz news is all a surprise to us and the senator”, his spokesman Conn Carroll said. Trump called Cruz a “nasty guy”, an “anchor baby”, “unstable” and “sick”.
“Ted Cruz was with Trump when he could’ve beaten him and against him when he couldn’t”, Ziegler tweeted. Cruz backing Trump “profoundly sad” Trump campaign manager on Cruz endorsement: “Hell froze over” Clinton tweaks Cruz over Trump endorsement by retweeting old attack MORE (R-Texas) for endorsing Donald TrumpDonald TrumpTrump slams Obama for “shameful” 9/11 bill veto Glenn Beck: Cruz backing Trump “profoundly sad” McCain opponent releases new ad hitting his record MORE.
“This commitment matters, and it provides a serious reason for voters to choose to support Trump”, Cruz said.
Democrats mocked Cruz’s about-face on Trump.
Finally, Trump spread a rumor, based off a grainy photo in the National Enquirer, that Cruz’s father Rafael was involved in the Kennedy assassination-and he continued raising it the day after he accepted the Republican nomination for president. CNN has learned that this vote of confidence coming from Cruz is the result of communications between Cruz and Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president running mate. He has already revised his tax plan and his infamous call to bar Muslims from entering the United States, among many other examples. Trump, in particular, has been branded as a phony by hard-line conservatives, Cruz among them, who see him more as a political opportunist than a true Republican. He came out of the shadows with a Donald Trump endorsement after vowing that was never going to happen. Cruz now leaves Ohio Governor John Kasich as perhaps the most Trump prominent holdout who is eyeing another White House bid in four years.
Cruz cited the possibility of Democrats taking control of the U.S. Supreme Court as a major reason why he chose to drop his opposition to Trump.
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He also doubted the fitness of Clinton for the presidency while highlighting that her policies would harm millions of Americans.
