Ted Cruz in the February 1 caucuses expressed disappointment the Texas senator did not fulfill a pledge Wednesday to endorse rival Donald Trump as the 2016 GOP presidential nominee – a defiant move that may impact his political future.
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“It would have been a betrayal to all of us who supported Ted Cruz who felt just as abused and bullied by Trump”, McCrary said.
“Our candidates certainly don’t have to fall in line with everything Trump says and neither do we,”said Michael Hensley, a Rubio delegate from Thorn Hill, Tenn”.
Roe said that Trump had known days in advance that Cruz would not endorse him, when the businessman called asking for Cruz’s explicit support. “Trump! Trump!’ and all of a sudden everybody started getting electric about it”, Peterson said.
Waves of disbelief rippled throughout the Cleveland arena immediately after Cruz’s speech, with many audience members booing him off the stage.
Fact Check: Ted Cruz: Debate Season’s Biggest Loser?
But for now, a Cruz aide told me it’s about politics, not personal attacks. But Cruz did not come to Cleveland to back the man who harassed him as “Lyin’ Ted”, suggested his father had been involved in JFK’s assassination, and made disparaging comments about his wife’s looks.
– This report was updated at 11:09 a.m. Political geeks know that party conventions are multi-day marketing events. If they could spend a week saying that former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski never touched Michelle Fields, that she might have been planning to attack Trump with a bomb hidden inside a ballpoint pen, that we’ve always been at war with Eastasia, Team Trump could’ve spent a couple of hours pretending that “vote your conscience” was an endorsement of Trump’s agenda and a clear denunciation of Hillary Clinton.
Other Cruz backers came to his defense Thursday.
“As soon as he said you should vote with your conscience, I knew he wouldn’t (endorse Trump)”, she said. And he surely wasn’t about to alienate the angry Trump supporters who will still be around in 2020 when Walker’s out looking for presidential support once again. It was a Rorschach test, and the Trump campaign failed miserably. “Disappointment is the kindest way I can put it”. I think he said, well, it wasn’t really meant for us. “He was invited graciously by Donald Trump and the RNC for a key position in primetime on the Wednesday night before the big night”.
Walker, who only three months ago led a spirited Wisconsin campaign for Cruz, a campaign that overwhelmed Trump in the state, was clearly not of like mind. “And Mr. Trump heard that”.
“I think it showed that Donald Trump was magnanimous enough to let him speak”, King said, “and then Cruz just basically tried to stick it in his eye”.
But he also seemed to give his own supporters a pass if they didn’t fully feel comfortable in voting for Trump.
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Steve Munisteri, former chairman of the Texas GOP, was a bit more candid when asked Monday about the prospect of Cruz withholding his support through the election.
