He shouldn't have gone to the Convention.

It was disrespectful to Trump. That said, the Trump people made a mistake giving him the time without vetting his speech. If they did vet his speech, and knew he was going to give the speech he gave, then they deserve what they got. If they vetted his speech and it contained supportive language that Cruz then removed himself while he was speaking then he's just a scumbag.

I felt bad for Trump while I was watching that because Cruz's speech completely undermined the message that the RNC is supposed to be putting forward: "we support our nominee." Cruz had at least two paragraph breaks towards the end of his speech where he could have ad-libbed a supportive sentence that would have gotten him through the rest of the speech, made the crowd happy, and wouldn't have required him to say the word "endorse." He purposefully stood there, paused, saying nothing, knowing full well what the crowd wanted to hear from him, and why he was asked to speak. He deserved the opportunity based on winning the delegates he did but he should be embarrassed by that display. This is why absolutely everyone who's ever worked in the Senate during his time there despises him.

As the only real conservative in the race it is right for him to speak at the convention. As the most intelligent person in the race, and after being national debate champion, it must be hard to even be on the same stage as someone like Donald Trump...Trump is so far beneath Ted Cruz it isn't funny. He had to come out and let the rest of the GOP know that it still has a brain and that 2020 might be better.

The rest of the party would be endorsing Hitler if he was the nominee, that is just how Republicans are.



They're a bunch of sycophantic snakes and Ted is better at it than all of them, because he is smarter than the rest of them. The dude shut down the government pretty much single-handedly. That isn't a good goal, but is a lofty one.

This post was edited by Skinned on Jul 21 2016 05:23pm

I love what he did, but I'm not sure it helps his political future. It's refreshing when a politician holds and maintains a grudge.

This post was edited by IceMage on Jul 21 2016 07:15pm

I think he did it to try and help his political future. I think Cruz is playing the long-game and hoping for a Trump loss in 2016. With this speech, it looks like he is aligning himself for a 2020 Presidential bid.

Endorsing Donald Trump this cycle could prove to be future political baggage if Trump loses. One such case might be Paul Ryan, a likely 2020 hopeful, who said Trump's comments were an example of "textbook racism" but still supported him anyway. I think that might come back to haunt Ryan a little bit in the future.

Meanwhile, if Trump loses, Cruz will be able say that he's always been a true Conservative no matter what, and he walks out of this presidential cycle looking a little cleaner.

Cruz did very well in the Southern states in the 2016 RNC primaries with Conservative voters. He almost won more than 50% of votes in his home state of Texas, which would have given him all the delegates there. I think he could do very well in a 2020 GOP primary. I think reaffirming himself as a strong Conservative in the wake of such party division and the aftermath of a potential Trump loss in November could be key to his potential success as a 2020 GOP candidate.

Lyin' Ted continues to lie

RNC should try and primary him out in Texas. I have no sympathy for parties in general, but you can't use party resources and then thumb your nose at them.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Ok, just watched the speech. WOW. Cruz didn't have to endorse him, he could have stayed at home. Trump invited him to speak at the RNC and he threw it back in all there faces, right in front of them. You may not like Lyin' Ted but he has a huge pair of balls.

I can't see how this hurts Lyin' Ted though. He built his whole career on being a huge arsewipe, this is no different. Republicans will forgive him in time.

This post was edited by dro94 on Jul 22 2016 01:17pm

Lol Cruz put out the first smear attempt against Trumps wife. Trump was reactionarily savage. Don't blame him.

it's fine he didn't endorse - that's his prerogative but he went on an insipid doubling-down rant the next day in front of the Texas delegation and they were not thrilled.
the family mud slinging went on by both camps, which is uncalled for period, just Cruz played the sore loser card out when he lost the plot.