Innocent people were in still in the process of being physically attacked and disrupted and Cruz et al, went to the microphones and immediately started blaming it on Trump. Did ya think this is some secret?
Get real.
Truth sounds like hate to those who hate truth.
Cruz did not blame Trump.
Again, already posted (you're welcome)
What Cruz Said:
"We need to learn to have disagreements without being disagreeable. To have disagreements while respecting human beings on the other side. Earlier today over thirty people were arrested at one rally. And then tonight, as violence broke out, the rally was canceled all together. Now, the responsibility for that lies with protesters who took violence into their own hands."
Which seems pretty clear to me to put the blame on "the Protesters". And we all would have preferred that he bear down a bit harder on that, but saying that he "blamed Trump", when his own words said "responsibilities lie with the protesters" is pretty much the opposite of what you said.
I imagine what you're taking issue with is what he said next:
"But in any campaign responsibility starts at the top. Any candidate who is responsible for the culture of the campaign. And when you have a campaign that disrespects the voters, when you have a campaign that affirmatively encourages violence, when you have a campaign that is facing allegations of physical violence against members of the press, you create an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discourse."
All of which is indisputably true: Trump HAS called for violence at his events (even if in jest), and HAS offered to pay the legal fees of his supporters for doing so. That's on the record. Can't be disputed.
What I've seen this weekend, is Trump supporters latching on to the last phrase "nasty discourse". Obviously Cruz had moved on from the actual violence of the protesters, which, by the way he had specifically condemned and laid at the protesters (not Trump's) feet.
But wait, there's more:
From a statement given by Cruz to Hugh Hewitt:
"... there's no doubt that a candidate bears responsibility for the culture that is set from the top. And you know, my approach ... listen, it comes from how you view the voters. You know, Donald demands of the voters that they stand up and pledge their allegiance to him, pledge that they wold vote for him. As I mentioned last night, I think that gets it exactly backwards. This is a job interview. You know, kings and queens demand of their subjects that they pledge allegiance to them, but in America, we don't pledge allegiance to men. We pledge allegiance to the flag. we pledge allegiance to the Constitution. But we don't pledge allegiance to men. and this is very much .. each of us should be asking to work for 330 million Americans. And what I am doing is pledging my allegiance to you. And part of that is reflected on how you approach protesters, because if you are the monarch from on high, then protester is disloyal and needs to be cast out and punished.
Again, Cruz was clearly referring to the protesters at previous Trump events who were roughly evicted. Things have always tended to get heated at FR during a primary, and that's a good sign. This time around, though, support has jelled behind a charismatic populist, with many liberal positions in the past, and at the same time a solid, documented conservative is vilified. Not a positive development in my mind.