When it became clear that the Texas senator and runner-up for the GOP presidential nomination would not endorse Trump, the convention hall erupted with jeers and booing.
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Controversy over Melania Trump’s Monday evening speech continued to hang over the convention.
According to The Washington Examiner, Cuccinelli said Trump supporters were harassing Heidi Cruz after her husband was booed off the stage.
Headlining the slate of speakers is Vice President of The Eric Trump Foundation Lynne Patton, Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and his wife, Callista and Vice Presidential nominee Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
“Cruz faced intense pressure to fall in line behind the nominee, although the Trump campaign offered no apologies for the disgraceful way it smeared Cruz in the primary contests”. While Trump has energized many Republican voters, others remain deeply skeptical of his unorthodox candidacy and divisive policy proposals.
The booing was so intense the Trump campaign encouraged its many staffers on the convention floor to try to calm the delegates down, said a Trump aide speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal campaign discussions.
He said Cruz should have followed the example of Ronald Reagan at the 1976 convention, who he said “went on to live to fight another day”. “I don’t intend to say negative things about Donald Trump”, said Cruz.
“A vote for anyone other than Donald Trump in November is a vote for Hillary Clinton”, he said – an offering of support Trump wasn’t counting on earlier in the race.
Beyond that the two men have a history of animosity, having exchanged piercing insults in the primaries, when the businessman called the senator “Lyin’ Ted” and the senator branded Trump a “pathological liar” and “serial philanderer”. “It was like playing a sport where you won’t go shake your opponents’ hand when they beat you”. Had he came and endorsed Trump explicitly “people would be talking a whole lot differently about his speech”. “I believe in free speech”.
“I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father”, he said.
Roe said that Cruz’s refusal to endorse Trump was about upholding his principles not positioning himself for a future presidential.
He added, “And I think the performance you saw up there is why Ted has so richly deserved the reputation he’s developed on Capitol Hill”. Trump allies were infuriated, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said Cruz’s decision was “totally selfish”.
Former 2016 presidential hopeful Sen.
He also was the number 10 most-searched term on Google overnight in the United States.
We’ll have more on the full roster of speakers as the day progresses, but first off: a presser from Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
If he hedges onstage Wednesday night, Cruz will deliver another reminder of how Trump’s polarizing, unpredictable bid for the nomination has alienated Republicans both on the right and in the center. “I never liked the guy, never trusted him but tonight was the worst”.
One source familiar with the campaign inner circle’s thinking but not authorized to speak publicly said Trump, his relatives and closest advisers were angry at Cruz and had expected, while not an endorsement, a warmer embrace of the nominee and less showmanship from the senator.
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Just after 11 p.m. ET, as Trump was leaving the arena, reporters shouted questions about the Cruz speech at him, and he simply replied, “I loved it.”
