How Cruz got from 'vote your conscience' to 'vote for Trump'
The Texas senator,his standing slipping back home and eyeing another White House run,faced an excruciating choice.
Minutes before Ted Cruz took the stage at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick cornered the senator, huddling with him in a last-ditch effort to coax an endorsement of Donald Trump. It didn’t work.
“A missed opportunity,” Patrick fumed after Cruz's notorious snub. "He makes his own decisions.”
Cruz was caught between two whirling forces in the GOP: The conservative movement he led just five months ago and a Republican Party now finding itself actually unifying after a bizarre and divisive primary election seemed to threaten the party’s very existence.
Former Cruz aides wanted their onetime boss to stand strong. Rick Tyler, a former Cruz spokesman, said on Thursday that “there is enormous pressure to get on board [with Trump] but if he does, he's done.”
“If he announces he endorses, it destroys his political brand,” said someone who had worked for Cruz's campaign.
Cruz’s political calculation was exceedingly complicated. He’s now at risk of facing a real primary challenge in 2018 from Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), a deep-pocketed Republican who could draw backing from the GOP establishment in Texas. And Cruz’s standing in Texas has taken a significant hit since his refusal to endorse Trump, with some polls showing him vulnerable in his Senate primary.
But Cruz, at least publicly, has come to see the election as the binary choice Republicans have been citing all along as they fall in line behind Trump: The business mogul isn’t their first choice, but he’s better than Clinton.
“If you don’t want to see a Hillary Clinton presidency, I encourage you to vote for” Trump, Cruz wrote Friday.
For some in the GOP, Cruz will be known as a good party soldier. But others were plainly dejected. Glenn Beck called it a “profoundly sad day for me,” former Cruz speechwriter Amanda Carpenter could only muster that the turn of events was “very disappointing.” Top political aide Jason Johnson’s only comment was a photo of himself, covering his eyes.
Other Republicans said that the bizarre arc of Cruz and Trump’s relationship was less about winning the election — and more about egos.
“The people who are disposed to vote for Donald Trump are going to vote for Donald Trump regardless of who is or is not endorsing him,” said a Republican senator. “I don’t know that all of a sudden you’ll see this groundswell of people” supporting Trump.
Steve Deace, a conservative radio host who was instrumental in Cruz’s Iowa Caucus win, summed up the feeling that many Cruz loyalists were grappling with as the decision came down on Friday: "This is gonna be a political disaster," he said. "Sad. Unavoidable. Entirely self-inflicted."
Cruz’s political calculation was exceedingly complicated. He’s now at risk of facing a real primary challenge in 2018 from Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), a deep-pocketed Republican who could draw backing from the GOP establishment in Texas. And Cruz’s standing in Texas has taken a significant hit since his refusal to endorse Trump, with some polls showing him vulnerable in his Senate primary.
But Cruz, at least publicly, has come to see the election as the binary choice Republicans have been citing all along as they fall in line behind Trump: The business mogul isn’t their first choice, but he’s better than Clinton.
“If you don’t want to see a Hillary Clinton presidency, I encourage you to vote for” Trump, Cruz wrote Friday.
For some in the GOP, Cruz will be known as a good party soldier. But others were plainly dejected. Glenn Beck called it a “profoundly sad day for me,” former Cruz speechwriter Amanda Carpenter could only muster that the turn of events was “very disappointing.” Top political aide Jason Johnson’s only comment was a photo of himself, covering his eyes.
Other Republicans said that the bizarre arc of Cruz and Trump’s relationship was less about winning the election — and more about egos.
“The people who are disposed to vote for Donald Trump are going to vote for Donald Trump regardless of who is or is not endorsing him,” said a Republican senator. “I don’t know that all of a sudden you’ll see this groundswell of people” supporting Trump.
Steve Deace, a conservative radio host who was instrumental in Cruz’s Iowa Caucus win, summed up the feeling that many Cruz loyalists were grappling with as the decision came down on Friday: "This is gonna be a political disaster," he said. "Sad. Unavoidable. Entirely self-inflicted."
