On the same day, Trump says he wouldn’t accept Cruz’s endorsement. Naturally, Cruz could have opposed Hillary in May (when he dropped out) or July (at the RNC) by publicly endorsing Trump, if this is his full reasoning. You can read his statement in full. “I think Ted Cruz endorsing Trump at this point plays to the caricature that he is self-interested, not really principled”, wrote Erick Erickson, a conservative commentator who had just published a well-received essay on why he still rejected Trump.
Advertisement
“We have fought the battle and he was a tough and brilliant opponent”, the Republican nominee said in a statement. “I look forward to working with him for many years to come in order to make America great again”.
The challenge for Cruz is to be just supportive enough of Trump to signal to base Republicans that he is committed to the party and not just himself while not being so supportive that all of his past rejections of Trump and Trumpism aren’t seen as the sort of political hypocrisy people hate.
A policy wonk who never shied from getting into the weeds of issues, Cruz laid out in detail six reasons why he believes Clinton can not be president: the Supreme Court, Obamacare, energy, immigration, national security and Internet freedom.
Trump and Cruz square off in an ABC Republican debate.
That commitment and Lee’s inclusion appear to have sealed the deal with Cruz, one of Trump’s most high-profile holdouts.
Asked about the snub, Trump said he didn’t want it, anyway.
One of the names on Trump’s list was that of US Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a key ally of Cruz.
Or, viewed another way, how can you vocally endorse someone whom you called “a serial philanderer” and a “pathological liar” 143 days ago? Even supporters were angry he wasn’t backing Trump despite promising to do back whoever the eventual nominee was. Trump yoked Cruz with the nickname, “Lyin’ Ted”, and called him a “nasty guy”, an “anchor baby”, “unstable” and “sick”. “Hillary Clinton is manifestly unfit to be president and her policies would harm millions of Americans”. Crapping all over Ted Cruz’s immediate family turns out not to be a hard limit for Ted Cruz. The accusations came after Cruz sent out deceitful mailers that shared voter’s caucus attendance records with their neighbors and warned them of “VOTER VIOLATION”. Today, a rote news release informed reporters that Trump was “greatly honored” by the endorsement. Now we know that that is false, but false isn’t, there’s not the right word to describe what that is. It is so outrageously false.
September 23: Cruz says he will vote for Trump.
“I apologize for that”, he wrote.
“Actually I was happy, because it shows how weak they are, it shows how pathetic they are”, Trump said.
Cruz shoots back: “Real men don’t attack women”.
“I think it’s the worst political miscalculation of my lifetime”.
Advertisement
I hope history remembers you as the coward you are. “The people will decide that”, Deace tweeted.
