The “But” negates EVERYTHING said prior to it’s usage. That’s what “but” does. So look at the part of the statement AFTER the “but”, that’s the meaningful part.
If Cruz had used “Period.” instead of “But ...”, THEN and ONLY THEN would Cruz had been laying the blame at the feet of the anti-free-speech leftist-anarchist mob. There’s really no other way to spin it.
Nope. You are wrong. Even if you were not, you are then not following your own advice and you are intentionally not reading exactly what he said after the but.
After the but he did not blame Trump for the violent protesters in Chicago. He said Trump created the environment that led to his supporters beating protesters.
Then he said it was the beatings of those protesters that allowed the Chicago protesters to think they should protest violently.