Trump and aides attack Cruz over non-endorsement

“In that speech last night I did not say a single negative word about Donald Trump”.

Cruz’s snub exasperates a clear party divide that exists within the GOP, one that RNC leaders planned to heal by uniting under their chosen candidate. The candidate’s son called the performance “silly” and inappropriate. The two had been bitter rivals, and Trump insulted Cruz, his father and his wife during the long campaign.

“You’re bound by the pledge”, like you’re bound by the speech, Trump stated – drawing a comparison to the pledge Cruz signed, but now broke, that he would support the Republican nominee. “That pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander my wife that I am going to come like a servile puppy dog for maligning my wife and maligning my father”. If you believe, as the media often reports, that Cruz is the darling of the Texas Republican orbit, then what he arrived to this morning was jarring. His stand, however, could prove prescient depending on the outcome of the November election and the reaction of grass-roots GOP voters.

“That solidifies support with the conservative wing of the party”, he said. “He’s politically dead”, said B.J. Van Gundy, a longtime GOP activist in Georgia. Cruz did congratulate Trump and later told people to “vote your conscience” in 2016.

“So Ted Cruz took his speech that was done, was on the Teleprompter, said hello, then made a statement that wasn’t on the speech, then went back to his speech”, Trump said.

Trump’s speech was interrupted at one point by a protester from Code Pink, a women’s activist group aimed at putting an end to US wars, and he waited to continue speaking until police removed her from the arena. “I don’t know if Donald can keep that out of him”, said Gilmore.

Interrupted by chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump“, Cruz paused and said with a smile, “I appreciate the enthusiasm of the NY delegation”. This is when Donald Trump comes out and accepts his party’s nomination to be president of the United States.

Moesel said there was none of that in or around the Oklahoma section on the convention floor.

“He may have ruined his political career”, Trump said of Cruz, who was booed out of the convention. Koerner said she was still deciding whether to support Trump, while another delegate, Darl Eaton of Eueless, estimated “95 percent or more” of the delegation was on the same page.

Despite what seems to be a full-throated endorsement of Trump, Walker said he does not necessarily agree with all of the controversial businessman’s policies.

Much of Pence’s speech echoed his comments when Trump officially announced him as the vice presidential candidate last Saturday. Manafort told NBC News that Cruz “made a mistake” and exercised “very bad judgment”. “So as far as the contract was concerned, he was the one in violation, not anybody else”. He pointed out the high-stakes battle for control of the Supreme Court, which Trump said should unite the party: “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!”