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 predicted an hour before his speech that he wouldn't endorse/support Trump.
My predictions over the last hour or so:
Texans @ Convention want Cruz 2 endorse Trump
Will he do what constituents want or treat them like a Politician would? Cruz will NOT endorse— Slip Stream News (@GaryZPon) July 21, 2016
@KatiePavlich He cant endorse Trump He needs Hillary to win 2016 so he can go up against her in 2020-If that happens she will EAT HIM ALIVE!— Slip Stream News (@GaryZPon) July 21, 2016
I'm so glad he didn't endorse Trump as I predicted he would not. He wants Hillary2016 so he doesn't have to try to primary Trump in 2020— Slip Stream News (@GaryZPon) July 21, 2016
Excellent observations!
“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.
It would be a dream come true if Jim Robinson would forcefully and repeatedly would make it an issue here on FR...
I am convinced the Clinton’s would have never left Arkansas if the 17th Amendment was not enforce.
Many good people just do not understand what the 17th Amendment did to our Republic and what is continues to do today... It killed it... We are a Uni-party democracy...Everything Ted Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson did should be thrown in the trash.
Eh...sorry Red —I was thinking of the Scalia post -—
“btw, “Aja” was their masterpiece.”
Highly agree!
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