Posted on 07/21/2016 8:18:20 AM PDT by Drango
Less than 12 hours after he was booed for not endorsing GOP nominee Donald Trump during his late-night speech before the Republican National Convention, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz isn't backing down.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential nominee, headlined Wednesday's event. But all eyes were on Ted Cruz earlier in the evening for his refusal to endorse Donald Trump. POLITICS Pence Makes The Case For Trump After Cruz Is Booed At an emotional event with the Texas RNC delegation Thursday morning, Cruz defended his decision to withhold his endorsement at a time when Republicans are trying to rally around their nominee ahead of the general election.
Sen. Ted Cruz leaves the stage after speaking during the Republican National Convention on Wednesday. POLITICS Trump-Cruz Feud Flares Anew On Third Night Of Convention "I am doing what millions of Americans are doing. I am watching and I am listening. The standard that I apply is, which candidate do I trust to defend the Constitution?" said Cruz.
"I can tell you I am not voting for Hillary," said Cruz, who also said he was "watching" other candidates.
As the GOP primary came down to the two candidates this spring, Trump and his surrogates attacked Cruz's family. That including tweeting an unflattering photo of Cruz's wife and alleging without any firm basis that Cruz's father, Rafael, was involved in the plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
"I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my family," said Cruz, who added he would not be "a servile puppy dog" to the Trump campaign.
Vanquished Republican presidential hopefuls, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, also addressed the convention's third night, delivering lukewarm endorsements of Trump.
Cruz said Trump should not have been surprised by the content of his Wednesday night address because the campaign "knew exactly what I was going to say." A preview copy of Cruz's remarks was released to reporters earlier in the evening.
He said it was "dismaying" that Trump supporters booed him from the floor when he encouraged Republicans to "vote their conscience" in November.
The first-term senator emphasized that he has no plans to campaign against Trump this fall. "I don't intend to say negative things about Donald Trump," said Cruz.
Meanwhile on Twitter, Trump criticized Cruz implying that he's encouraging people to vote for Democrats:
Follow Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump Ted Cruz talks about the Constitution but doesn't say that if the Dems win the Presidency, the new JUSTICES appointed will destroy us all! 8:12 AM - 21 Jul 2016 3,349 3,349 Retweets 9,324 9,324 likes Wednesday night Trump wasn't so harsh, tweeting that he let Cruz speak even after seeing his remarks and that it was "No big deal!"
Follow Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn't honor the pledge! I saw his speech two hours early but let him speak anyway. No big deal! 9:45 PM - 20 Jul 2016 17,801 17,801 Retweets 50,522 50,522 likes Cruz is already positioning himself to run again for the White House in 2020 and discouraged supporters from casting a vote for him this fall. "I am not encouraging anyone to write my name in."
I was a Cruz guy at first, even sent him some money. I even suported Cruz for SCOTUS once I started leaning towards Trump. Not sure at what point my eyes were opened to him, but I can’t believe he has any political career left after last night. Even if, heaven forbid, Trump turned out horrible and Cruz tries an “I told you so”, Cruz was childish and went back on his word. Yes, he lost, and yes, it was ugly, but Cruz should have humbled himself and supported the nominee. Cruz is dead to me now.
I agree, Sequoyah01.
I was a Cruz supporter until Trump clinched the nomination. I have some reservations about Trump, but he will get my vote for several important reasons.
#1: He is not Hitlery. I can’t emphasize this enough!
2. He was chosen fairly by the primary voters. I would not have supported Cruz (or anyone else, especially Jeb) as the nominee if he had acquired the nomination by manipulating the rules and foisting a “party elite approved” candidate on us.
I can understand Cruz not being an enthusiastic supporter in light of attacks on his family. I think it was classless of Trump to do that. But I think that Cruz could have found a way to make amends. Trump should have asked Cruz to forgive him and Cruz should have forgiven. I admire a person who both defends his family and sticks by his principles, but not a person who is petty and vengeful. Which is Cruz? I haven’t yet read enough to tell. Or maybe the story has not played out yet.
McLame’s “fat pig” daughter is saying on “Outnumbered” that Trump should apologize to Ted Cruz for his remarks about Cruz’ wife! What a maroon!
We didn’t spend two days on her speech - the MSM did as a distraction so they did not have to cover the effective attacks on their queen.
I fully expect the MSM to use Cruz in the same fashion. Few people watch the convention so all most of America knows now is Trump’s wife is a plagiarist and Cruz did not support Trump and was booed. Sorry, that is reality for most of America.
The plagiarism accusation was stupid - the same stuff is said often (not exactly original thought is it?) and I thought she did well.
The Cruz snub was unnecessary and it is the fault of one person - Ted. Trump gave him a chance and he chose poorly detracting from some great speakers last night. I would have liked to see the two of them bury the hatchet, but it is not in the DNA of either apparently. I think Ted believed the reaction would be more favorable to him, which once again makes me question his grip on reality.
With that said, I expect Trump to light it up tonight and few will be talking about the distractions for a news cycle. Will see, but this is his big moment and I am hoping he outlines a few of his plans and covers a wide amount of territory. I think this will be the most watched speech of the campaign by the American people.
Goldman Sachs says beg Cruz & Cruz begs
... like a servile little puppy.
I bet it’s Tom Hoefling.
who was it that invited this evil freak to talk at the convention...they need to be fires
correct... that is precisely why the 17th Amendment has to be repealed....
Good summary.
“I think that Trump is secretly smiling.”
Probably. Because:
1. Ted Cruz just destroyed himself politically.
2. The Cruz failure to endorse could make Trump look more moderate in the eyes of those independents and Reagan Democrats who already hate Ted Cruz for his putative hard-core “conservatism”.
TED, if you can’t run with the BIG DOGS stay on the porch.
Best Convention Evah!
The only mature people are the kids.
Pray America wakes
More NPR lies, however. Trump did not imply that Cruz is encouraging people to vote Democrat. He did imply that Cruz is trying to nudge the electorate toward Hillary winning. That as likely could be by regularly GOP voters voting Libertarian or staying home.
I think you’re right, but he seems to think voters will run to him in 2020 against an incumbent Hillary.
That’s really irrational. I don’t see people coming around to Ted in that scenario in the GOP Primary (let alone the general election).
Best,
Vince
Limbaugh acknowledging Cruz had lied about his reasons and it was all over personal insults.
Lol Limbaugh thinks Cruz “might have chosen the wrong time and place” to make his point.
You think??
You make excellent points about attacks on family and I would not tolerate them and would handle them as they are, PERSONALLY and not publically at first.
As for the rest of Cruz, petty and vengeful about covers it.
He has ruined, roped, hung his chances for becoming anything....Trump/Pence are going to do so much for this Country that after Pence finishes his terms as POTUS, it's Donald Jr.’s time in office...
If the Bushes or Clintons think that their kids are going to get anywhere around governing our Country, they are wrong, we know the horrid behind the backs of these families that it is a disgrace to even have them inside our borders...
Cruz, Bush, Clinton, Romney they are all evil and need to step down and go on about their business, we know who we want to lead our Country into greatness this generation and the next and it is none of the above...’birds of a feather’ ‘it's who you run with that gains your reputation’....
Small minded comment.
Thought Cruz was brilliant.?
“Cruzlims all over social media saying they can never support Trump because he orchestrated the booing.”
The thing is, I strongly suspect that the vast majority of these “Cruzlims” are actually Hillary trolls being paid to sew FUD. They’ve landed en masse at putative conservative sites like conservativereview, therightscoop, redstate, etc. There’s so many of ‘em at places like those, that they’re pretty much just preaching to each other and Hillary is basically wasting her money.
We saw the exact same phenomena here at FR several weeks ago, and the only reason we’re not invested now is because JimRob kicked ‘em out and the few remaining ones like “scutter” have toned their anti-Trump rhetoric down just enough to avoid JimRob’s ire.
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