Both Cruz and the Trump campaign acknowledge that Wednesday night wasn’t a surprise. “I’m not going to get into criticizing or attacking Donald Trump, but I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and my father”.
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Jeff Roe, Cruz’s presidential campaign manager, said Thursday in Cleveland that the senator’s convention speech was “a rare occurrence of a politician actually saying what they believe”.
He was reminded that earlier this year, at a Republican debate, Cruz enthusiastically said he would support the party’s official nominee – whomever that turned out to be.
Trump habitually referred to Cruz as “Lying Ted” during the campaign, denigrated his wife Heidi Cruz’s looks, and at one point even suggested that Cruz’s father may have been involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Except you don’t have to be Machiavelli to understand that President Trump taking the oath of office in January 2017 would interfere with the prospect of President Cruz doing the same four years later.
Speaking to members of the Texas delegation, Cruz held his ground. His response, according to Roe, was that “it’s hard to do the right thing”.
Mr Trump declared the nation’s problems too big to be fixed within the confines of traditional politics. Germany’s center-right, conservative Die Welt newspaper noted that Trump’s message was “apocalyptic” and “bleak”: “The speech was populist through and through and offered no solutions”, the newspaper surmised, adding that it lacked “elegance, humor, self-irony”.
Then, Mr Trump sparked more questions about his Oval Office readiness by suggesting in an interview that the USA might not defend America’s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partners with him as president.
“If you are a Republican who came to this convention hungry for an uplifting, unifying, visionary speech, you’re going home starving”, she said. He says don’t worry, you’ll do a great job. But it’s alienated many Hispanic voters and has been called unworkable even some in the GOP.
Ivanka Trump said she had seen her father fight for his families, employees and company and is now the same for his country.
Cruz was entirely unrepentant.
A transcript of Donald TrumpDonald TrumpTrump vow to overhaul United States trade policy ‘Young Turks” host fights with Trump allies Trump manager: Women’s “husbands can’t afford to pay bills” MORE’s GOP nomination acceptance speech was leaked to a pro-Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonTrump vow to overhaul USA trade policy Trump manager: Women’s “husbands can’t afford to pay bills’ Trump to present himself as strong leader in unsafe world MORE super-PAC through a “Republican source” and then widely disseminated to the media, Politico reports.
“By the way, can anyone imagine our nominee standing in front of voters answering questions like this?”
The sign outside the ballroom door featured an Abraham Lincoln quote: “A house divided against itself can not stand”.
Caitlyn Jenner, right, speaks at an American Unity Fund brunch at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on July 20, 2016, on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention.
Hillary Clinton and the Democrats should be anxious. (The website FiveThirtyEight calculated that “Hillary” and “Clinton” were the two most uttered words on Wednesday.) Cruz said the party will lose if its key messages are “Hillary” and “email server” rather than “freedom”. Every day in the Senate, I have spent every waking moment fighting for this country, fighting for you, fighting to honor the promises I made. “Great love in the arena!”
As the senator made clear, this was no accident.
“I can tell you firsthand that there is no better person to have in your corner when you are facing tough decisions or tough opponents”, she said at a campaign event in Bethpage, New York, in April.
Hillary Clinton: “I will do everything I can to make it easier to pay for childcare”.
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Cruz, who won nearly 8 million Republican votes and was habitually referred to as “Lyin’ Ted” by Trump, told his home state delegation that Trump’s attacks on his wife and father immediately nullified his pledge to support the party’s nominee. “I know that would not pass muster but she she’s most impressive”.
