By Aaron Miller-
Senator Ted Cruz has done a U turn , and said on Friday that he would vote for Donald J. Trump for president, despite declining to endorse him two months earlier at a Republic National convention.
In a statement of Facebook, Cruz said:
For Mr. Cruz, who has fashioned himself as the unbending conscience of modern conservatism, the decision to endorse Mr Trump is the latest remarkable gamble in a career defined by them, placing him in the corner of an ideologically elastic candidate who savaged Mr. Cruz — and, often, the senator’s family — at every turn during the nominating contest.
It is believed Cruz was influenced by the rise of support for Trump in the polls, despite the fact he is trailing Hillary Clinton.
In his statement, Mr. Cruz said he had based his decision on two factors: a prior pledge to support the Republican nominee — which Mr. Cruz said in July had been “abrogated” by Mr. Trump’s personal attacks on him — and his desire to defeat Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee.
“If Clinton wins, we know — with 100 percent certainty — that she would deliver on her left-wing promises, with devastating results for our country,” Mr. Cruz said. “My conscience tells me I must do whatever I can to stop that.”
Most strange of all in Mr. Cruz’s statement was his praise for the policy aims and recent campaign promises of a man he once called a “pathological liar,” overlooking the harsh personal attacks Mr Trump had levied against him.
Several former aides and allies to Mr. Cruz had long dissuaded Cruz from publicly backing Mr.Trump, on both principled and pragmatic grounds. However, Cruz has obviously dismissed that advice in his u turn, presumably to find a way into the Trump administration should the controversial democrat be victorious in the elections.
Mr. Cruz’s public support will inevitably compromise his reputation as a man of principle and dignity, however his political ambition for a role under Trump may have superseded that consideration for the senator. This u turn smacks of hypocritical double standards!
CONSCIENCE
Also working against Cruz, is his speech at the July convention , in which the senator urged Republicans to “vote your conscience.” Trump is also on record saying he would have rejected any endorsement for Mr.Cruz anyway, so it would be unlikely for Trump to take him on board. Although politicians are known for changing like th weather.
Yet, on Friday, Mr. Trump said he was “greatly honored” to have the backing of a “tough and brilliant opponent.” However, some of Cruz allies wasted no time registering their displeasure.
“I’m just trying to get this Cruz sticker off my car,” Rick Tyler, the senator’s campaign spokesman, said shortly after the endorsement was announced. “I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea and think I’m a Trump supporter.”
Steve Deace, a prominent conservative radio host who previously supported Mr. Cruz, called the senator’s decision “the worst political miscalculation of my lifetime.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump’s campaign released a news release supportive of Mr. Cruz’s latest Senate venture, by way of his opposition to the federal government’s plan to end its oversight of the internet’s master directory of website addresses.
Further signs that Mr. Trump was retreating was apparent in the inclusion of a close Cruz ally, Senator Mike Lee of Utah, on a list of prospective Supreme Court nominees which Mr. Cruz praised in his statement. What a massive u turn!
BACK TRACKING
On Friday, Mr. Cruz displayed more back tracking when he cheered Mr.Trump’s vow to nominate justices “in the mold” of Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February. In the primaries, he regularly disparaged Mr. Trump’s judgment on judicial matters, holding forth on a “radical pro-abortion extremist” federal judge who happens to be Mr. Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry.
Mr. Cruz named Mr. Trump’s immigration policy as a bright spot, in stark contrast to his attack in the primaries of Mr. Trump’s proposals as an “amnesty.”
However, yesterday Mr. Cruz cited “national security” as a reason to to back Mr. Trump. This view is again directly opposed to his comments in the primaries that Mr. Trump is so unsteady that he might even use nuclear weapons against a friendly country like Denmark on a whim. He proceeded to call Mr. Trump “a pathological liar”; “utterly amoral”; “a serial philanderer”; and “a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country has ever seen.”
This U turn of Mr Cruz should make him less credible as a future president, although that will depend ion whether Cruz is successful or not.