Ted Cruz, who set off an unprecedented uproar at the Republican National Convention last night with his refusal to endorse Donald Trump. I will tell the truth, I will not malign, I will not insult, I will not attack, I will tell the truth. “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”. “I am watching, I am listening”, Cruz said.
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A delegate Thursday heckled at Cruz saying, “This is politics”. “His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being – you know, shot”, Donald said in May 2016, per Politico. “I think (Cruz) stuck to his principles”, Bearden said.
Commentators suggested the ill-timed spat might damage Cruz’s long-standing dream of becoming president.
Cruz opened his give-and-take with a warning: “These people with cameras are not your friends”.
“I’m shaking my head”, said Garth Kuhnhein, a delegate from Kenton County who supported Cruz.
Cruz vowed not to say anything negative against Trump going forward.
“We’ve produced a nominee, and that person is Donald Trump, and he’s the only person who stands between Hillary Clinton becoming president”.
“It’s incredibly exciting that he is the party’s nominee”, Willette said of Trump.
Cruz refused to endorse his former presidential rival, leaving Wiegert and numerous other Republican delegates angry, frustrated and disappointed.
Facing his home state delegation over breakfast, Cruz was met with alternating choruses of cheers and shouts of disapproval from the crowd clad in Texas flag shirts and cowboy hats.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who suspended his presidential run after 70 days to help unite Republicans against Trump, announced the Wisconsin delegation’s votes on the floor of the RNC convention Tuesday.
The first-term senator emphasized that he has no plans to campaign against Trump this fall.
Cruz said the dominant word in a word cloud of his speech was “freedom”. Yet Cruz and his aides said he had submitted his speech to the Trump campaign for review in advance, and argued they knew it included no endorsement.
Tonight, the big highlight: Ted Cruz’s speech and the crowd’s not-so-gracious reaction.
O’Brien had departed Cleveland by Thursday morning, in advance of the Trump speech. I hope not. I hope that he will come to his senses.
In his own remarks to the breakfast, after Cruz’s appearance, Patrick said, “There is an elephant in the room which we have to address”.
“I don’t care. We don’t need it”.
Texas delegate Steve Toth doesn’t believe the boos were appropriate.
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“I thought it was fantastic”. “To me, it was very classless”.
