July 22, 2016

In a Party Filled With Cowards, Cruz Stood Apart

Say what you will about Ted Cruz’s politics or personality, but it takes a special kind of chutzpah to stand up at a convention — in front of millions of viewers — and unfurl a comprehensive attack on the party’s nominee. It’s also unprecedented. On Wednesday night, Cruz gave a commanding and inclusive speech about conservative values. It was so good that the crowd forgot to boo until he was more than halfway finished. “Stand and speak, and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom … (so that) we will be able to say, ‘Freedom matters, and I was part of something beautiful.’”

Say what you will about Ted Cruz’s politics or personality, but it takes a special kind of chutzpah to stand up at a convention — in front of millions of viewers — and unfurl a comprehensive attack on the party’s nominee. It’s also unprecedented. On Wednesday night, Cruz gave a commanding and inclusive speech about conservative values. It was so good that the crowd forgot to boo until he was more than halfway finished.

“Stand and speak, and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom … (so that) we will be able to say, ‘Freedom matters, and I was part of something beautiful.’”

All these words were broadsides against Donald Trump’s candidacy. By the end, the crowd tried to drown him out with boos and pro-Trump chants. Cruz’s wife had to be escorted out of the convention center because a mob of Trump fans was threatening her. A man in a donor suite had to be restrained when Cruz walked by. They didn’t want something beautiful at the Republican National Convention; they wanted something angry.

When Trump first ran for president, he claimed that the Republican Party was nothing but a bunch of spineless weasels who didn’t have the mettle to fight. Trump then won the nomination, and most of the Republican establishment proved his contention true by backing a candidate whose worldview directly conflicted with their own stated beliefs.

There were those, such as Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, who reluctantly offered unconvincing endorsements to avert a civil war. Let’s just say this is the sort of risk aversion that falls well within the normal parameters of politically expedient behavior — the kind we all supposedly hate.

Then there were those who had no shame. Example: Then-candidate Rick Perry once gave a speech titled “Defending Conservatism Against the Cancer of Trump-ism.” Cancer. Now, if you want to read the text of his speech, you won’t be able to find it on Perry’s website. It’s been removed. And the man who once said Trump-ism is “a toxic mix of demagoguery and mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued” was soon angling for the veep spot and promised that he would help Trump in “myriad ways.”

Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan and Scott Walker were the people who would supposedly synthesize conservative ideals and then offer a compelling, modern, principled, political case. All of them were, at various times, harshly critical of Trump. But all of them eventually fell in line. Trump fans are never going to warm to these “elitists,” no matter how helpful they are this year. And after Cruz’s speech, all of them look weak.

Cruz, who we shouldn’t forget tried to be buddies with Trump for most of last year, ended up in a different place. Now, I should note that if someone smeared my wife and accused my father of being complicit in the murder of a president, I wouldn’t merely refuse to endorse that person; I would have a new favorite enemy. I’m sensitive like that. So I can imagine Cruz’s speech had something to do with this history. He’s human, after all.

It also says something about Trump’s judgment that he invited a politician whom he’d cruelly attacked to speak at the convention — in a prime-time spot. “This man is a pathological liar,” Cruz spat out not that long ago. “He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. … The man is utterly amoral.” Even if you believe that the Trump camp set Cruz up to be booed (a story I’m highly skeptical about), he created a needlessly divisive situation that could have easily backfired.

It couldn’t have only been vengeance. Cruz hasn’t really wavered on his political positions — whether you like them or not. What shouldn’t be lost in the kerfuffle is that the speech he gave was a well-delivered distillation of conservative ideas that went well beyond the strikes on Trump. In contrast with what’s been going on, it sounded inclusive.

Cruz also made a strong case for religious liberty — for Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists — and for federalism. All that talk about the Constitution offended Trump’s fans because they know well that the candidate has little, if any, interest in preserving the document. The phrase “vote your conscience” provoked boos from the GOP nominee’s fans.

The same day Cruz angered Trump supporters by not honoring a silly political pledge to endorse the GOP nominee, Trump was quoted in a New York Times interview praising another authoritarian and asserting that he would ignore international treaties signed by the United States.

So though it takes guts to pull off what Cruz did, there wasn’t much downside politically. It seems unlikely that a Trump victory would mean an end to Cruz’s Senate career. If 2016 ends up being a disaster for his party — and it’s a good bet it will — Cruz will be the only major Republican to emerge from the Trump fiasco with his principles largely intact. Maybe, as his critics claim, he’s just laying the groundwork for 2020. Maybe it will backfire. Maybe only someone as stubborn and egotistical as Cruz could do it. So what?

COPYRIGHT 2016 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.