Amid chants of “2020”, Ted Cruz on Wednesday addressed a republican convention that he had initially hoped to have been celebrating his presidential nomination at.
Undercutting calls for Republican unity, Cruz stubbornly withheld his endorsement for Donald Trump as he addressed the GOP convention, instead encouraging Americans to “vote your conscience” in November.
As expected, the move was met with mixed reactions.
Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.Ted Cruz
While he backed some of Trump’s policy proposals at the convention, including the controversial idea of building a wall along the US-Mexico border, he referred to the GOP nominee by name only once.
Cruz, His Wife Booed for Not Endorsing Trump
Just as Cruz was ending his speech, Trump unexpectedly walked into the arena. This prompted delegates supporting Trump into chanting his name, and then later erupting into a chorus of boos for Cruz to show displeasure at him ending his speech without endorsing Donald Trump.
Anti-Trump Republican delegate Ken Cuccinelli had to escort Cruz’s wife, Heidi, off the floor of the Republican National Convention out of concern for her safety.
Cruz’s decision to accept a speaking role at the convention but not explicitly endorsing Trump was remarkable, and underscored the deep divisions still coursing through the GOP. It also raised questions about why the Trump campaign invited Cruz to speak in a headlining role, without getting him to agree to an endorsement.
Cruz had earlier been harshly critical of Trump in the waning weeks of their primary battle, calling the businessman a “pathological liar” and “utterly amoral.”
Cruz is widely speculated to be planning a run for the president’s job again in 2020, and if fate has it, perhaps even challenging Donald Trump if he were to win in November.
He arrived in Cleveland with an eye on his own political future, holding a rally with hundreds of supporters who greeted him with chants of “2020” — suggesting Cruz’s backers have no interest in seeing Trump become a two-term president.
(With inputs from AP and Reuters)