Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) played bombthrower at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night during his speech by refusing to endorse Donald Trump. It blew up in his face.
The crowd showered Cruz with a chorus of boos and heckled him off the stage after he said “vote your conscience,” and did not mention the current nominee.
Though the senator made an appeal to morality, the move appeared to be designed to set himself up for a 2020 presidential campaign. Numerous press reports before the speech said Cruz would be looking to emulate Ronald Reagan’s 1976 convention address. Reagan finished second that year, before winning the first of two terms in 1980.
Cruz even reportedly attempted to visit the convention suite of billionaire far-right donor Sheldon Adelson, after delivering his speech. He was turned down by the casino mogul. The Washington Post described Adelson’s ostracizing as “a pointed rebuff of a politician who has methodically cultivated the support of the Las Vegas Sands chairman and his wife for years.”
Cruz stood by his remarks on Thursday morning, raising the possibility that some of the ugliest moments of the GOP primary will haunt the Republican Party during the general.
“I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father,” Cruz said. “Neither he nor his campaign has taken back a word of what they said about my family.”
During the primary, Trump spread rumors, charging Cruz’s father with being party to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Trump also also retweeted a photo mocking the appearance of Heidi Cruz, the senator’s wife.
Trump is decried by some conservatives as uniquely crude and authoritarian for a Republican. Sen. Cruz alluded to this claim in his speech, using the word “freedom” over 20 times, according to his prepared remarks.
“Freedom means religious freedom, whether you are Christian or Jew, Muslim or atheist,” Cruz said. “Gay or straight, the Bill of Rights protects the rights of all of us to live according to our conscience.”
Despite this, Cruz put forth numerous authoritarian policy proposals during the primary, as Esquire has noted.
In March, for example, he said: “we need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods.”
The same month, Cruz also called on the federal government to cut off funding “to anyone who provides financial support for the BDS movement, including schools and universities.” He was referring to the non-violent “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement protesting Israel’s ongoing and expanding occupation of Palestine.
Cruz, in February, also said he would order the Justice Department to criminally investigate Planned Parenthood.
