Posted on 05/30/2016 8:23:43 AM PDT by conservative98
When Donald Trump collected a few unbound delegates last week, surpassing the 1,237 needed to clinch the Republican nomination for president, expectations that the national convention could be the most dramatic in modern times evaporated.
“Now, it will be the most entertaining,” said Randy Evans, a party-wise man from Georgia, with a nod to the reality TV star’s promise to “put some show biz” into the July convention in Cleveland.
But there remains an important, unscripted drama yet to unfold in the tempestuous relationship between Trump and his chief rival, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Although Trump will arrive in Cleveland as the victor and Cruz the vanquished, the politics of the moment suggest that Trump needs Cruz — to reassure nervous conservatives — more than Cruz needs Trump, whose defeat in November would fulfill Cruz’s frequent prediction and best serve the 45-year-old Texan’s future presidential ambitions.
“If he does not endorse and Trump loses, Cruz gets to step out on Nov. 9 and say, ‘See what I said,’ ” said Evans, a member of the Republican National Committee’s Rules Committee who, as chairman of the Republican National Lawyers Association, stayed neutral in the race. +In Cleveland, Trump may need Cruz more than Cruz needs him photo Drew Angerer U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to the media as he returns to his office at the U.S. Capitol on May ... read more
“Cruz is a brilliant strategist, a long-term player. He’s got cards to play, and I fully expect him to play a few of those cards,” Evans said. “I think Cruz’s theme will be to say, `You’re the nominee, but I’m the party. You’re the name on the ballot, but I’m the one who represents, who epitomizes what it means to be a Republican.’”
Cruz ended his campaign May 3 after a bitter defeat in Indiana, dropping out shortly after lashing out at the man who had spent months calling him “Lyin’ Ted.”
“This man is a pathological liar,” Cruz said of Trump. “He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.” +In Cleveland, Trump may need Cruz more than Cruz needs him photo Nicholas K. Geranios Jennifer Fetters of Bellevue, Wash., works the Ted Cruz booth at the Washington state GOP convention May 19.
Cruz also called Trump “utterly amoral,” adding that “morality does not exist for him.”
“I don’t see how you can take those words back, particularly if part of your appeal is that you’re not a traditional politician, that ‘I tell it like it is,’ ” University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray said. “I can’t see how that would work.”
For many admirers of Cruz, the very thought of endorsing Trump remains repugnant. +In Cleveland, Trump may need Cruz more than Cruz needs him photo Rodger Mallison Delegates cheer as Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the Republican Party of Texas state convention in Dallas on May 14.
“Cruz should maintain his sterling conservative brand and stay far away from the Trump train and its inevitable wreckage,” said CNN contributor Amanda Carpenter, Cruz’s former communications director in the Senate. “Even if Trump wins the White House, he’ll have done it in a low-down, dirty way that no one with any integrity should be proud to endorse.”
So, better even than Ex-Lax?
No Cruz will follow the Trump rule that says if you don’t treat me right I am not bound by the pledge. Trump hasn’t treated Cruz right so the pledge has been negated. If Cruz endorses Trump his career becomes meaningless.
Do you think you are living in Canada? That is where Cruz was born. He will never be our President. Move to Canada and take your whiny Teddy Bear with you, back where he belongs.
'Movement conservatives'? Time to get off the potty and flush.
Was Obama older than Cruz when Obama ran for office? Harvard Law School really messes with the minds of ineligible candidates.
That Cruz lost?
Can anything excuse not supporting Trump over Hillary (or crazy Joe, or whatever dem they try to fool us with) at this point?
'Principled' Ted Cruz carried Mitch the Senate's water, until Mitch the Senate said NO the Senate will NOT resolve you, Ted Cruz to be eligible to hold the office of president, like the Senate did for lord McCain... Then Teddy the Canadian threw a fit and called Mitch the Senate a liar.... 'snicker'....
You guys won. Can you possibly stop it with the stupid insults?
Only when the nonsense bloviating about Sir Saintly Cruz still being the salvation and hope of the Republican Party.
What has Trump done to Cruz that isn't "right?"
If Hillary wins, there is no next election. If a democrat follows Obama, freedom is dead, America is dead, and the next election will be decided by the 11 million undocumented democrats who will become 25 million voting citizens. If Trump does not win, free Americans should follow the advice on “if you wish for peace”.
TrusTED will come around. You can bet he probably has more campaign debt than Christie did so it’s in his best interest to be on the correct side of the RNC donor class......he can’t pull off a re-election without RNC support.
Well, you know, when he who was anointed by the Almighty says something against you, you dare not fight back! Trump was supposed to have gotten on his knees and said "Thank you sir! Can I have another?" :-)
My guess is that Cruz will work his butt off this election season, just not for the presidential race.
He will campaign all around the country for Republican House and Senate candidates. If asked if he supports Trump he will say something like, “I pledged to support the Republican nominee and I’m a man of my word.”
Meanwhile he’ll never mention Trump’s name but will gather I owe you’s from new Reps and senators who he helped raise money for and built organizations for.
That’s what Nixon did in 1964. Rockefeller sat on his hands and was done. Nixon worked his butt off for other candidates and came out of the Goldwater drubbing looking good.
Maybe in his home country of Canada
Cruz is not shrewd at all, a bunch of us that have voted republican since the 1980s would not elect him as dogcatcher.
He is a fraud.
It might be true of the 8~16 % who still be believe in Cruz, but for the rest of us, we think the following about Cruz:
1) he is a liar
2) he is totally about Cruz
3) he has not principles.
4) He cannot be trusted.
5) he is owned by globalists.
“Does it ever end?”
It would, if these deplorable Cruz loons would quit picking at the Cruz scab, but they won’t, so it’s not likely it will ever heal.
~~Go Trump 2016~~ ~~Go Trump 2016~~ ~~Go Trump 2016~~
The tarnished Cruznadian was crushed under the wheels of the Trump Train. I am in TX, and I won't support his Senate bid in 2018. He fooled me once..not gonna be a second time.
Cruz is 45 years old, and though Trumpsters want to deny it,
a much shrewder politician than Trump could ever be.
********************
Shrewder has yet to be determined in the case of Cruz. He is smart but the ability to focus
on a proper way to secure the peoples support has been his downfall, imo. Cruz appears to be
on an agenda to try and determine the GOP platform as it’s developed at the convention, etc.
I’m not sure that’s in his best interest at this time but we’ll see. I do think Cruz will
ultimately endorse Trump but only after the convention.
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