Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who during the Republican presidential primary called Donald Trump a “pathological liar,” endorsed the GOP nominee on Friday.
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Ted CruzTed CruzCruz says he forgives Trump for attacks on family Why Cruz flipped on Trump Glenn Beck: Cruz backing Trump “profoundly sad’ MORE’s (R-Texas) endorsement of the billionaire”.
The senator justified his about-face with the fact that previous year he promised to support whatever Republican candidate was elected and also, while he has “areas of significant disagreement” with Trump, he believes that “by any measure Hillary Clinton is wholly unacceptable”. Cruz has already said he would not vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton. The two were locked in a bitter rivalry since the past few months with the Senator even refusing to back Trump during his speech at the Republican National Convention in July. Just as he did for years with President Obama, Trump repeatedly floated a birther theory about Cruz and suggested he was ineligible for the presidency because he was born in Canada. Now that Ted Cruz has shown the world exactly what he is, of course. Trump also backed Cruz’s position in a congressional squabble over internet regulation. There are also whispers about a primary challenge to Cruz in 2018.
However, Cruz’s explanation hasn’t stopped speculation about the possibility that other reasons may have contributed to the Texas senator jumping – however reluctantly – on the Trump Train. “That list is a very, very strong list, and I got to tell you, for me and everyone else who cares about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, that is a big, big deal to make the promise that this is the list that you can know the people from whom” will be selected. Most refused to accept jobs with the Trump campaign when offered following Cruz’s departure from the primary campaign this spring.
“It’s easy to say ‘Make America Great Again, ‘ ” Cruz said in one often-repeated riff. 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.
The endorsement comes ahead of the first televised debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Monday.
You do have to read his entire Facebook post endorsing Donald Trump in order to get there, and while many may be unwilling to do that, it’s not really on Cruz if people are cherry-picking his statement.
Asked about the snub, Trump said he didn’t want it, anyway.
“This man is a pathological liar”.
Trump responded to the news by saying he was “greatly honored” to have the endorsement of “a tough and brilliant opponent”.
And Trump’s senior communication adviser, Jason Miller, held a similar role in the Cruz campaign, though many other top Cruz staffers had vowed never to work for Trump. Cruz’s vote, while not a formal endorsement, is a practical endorsement that should convince some of the NeverTrumps to vote for Trump.
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Cruz had a pretty good reason for calling Trump all those things back in the spring: Trump ran an astonishingly dirty campaign against him!
