CLEVELAND — Donald Trump’s campaign chairman on Thursday dismissed assertions that Ted Cruz dominated the third day of the GOP convention and stole the spotlight from the Republican nominee, and insisted Republicans are unified around Trump.
Cruz, the Texas senator who finished second to Trump in the GOP presidential primary, was booed off the convention stage Wednesday evening when he refused to endorse Trump, despite his pledge to support the nominee during the primaries.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence concluded the session by formally accepting the nomination for vice president in a speech that was well-written and competently delivered.
Immediately afterward and into Thursday morning, the news media’s coverage was still primarily focused on Cruz. But Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said he was pleased with how the evening went, rebuffing suggestions that the four-day convention that concludes with the nominee’s acceptance speech has showcased a Republican Party in disarray.
“The party’s definitely more unified,” Manafort told reporters Thursday morning. “There were a number of Cruz delegates on the floor last night who disagreed with what Sen. Cruz did, including his home state of Texas, and who unprompted were coming up to us, saying this wasn’t right of Cruz and they were supporting the Trump-Pence ticket. He was the only speech who was poorly received by the body of the convention in the hall.
“Mr. Trump invited him because he wanted him to have the opportunity to speak,” Manafort continued. “As to their obligations where they all signed pledges, everybody new about the pledges, they knew what that meant, what obligation that put on them and how they interpreted their obligation.
“Sen. Cruz, the strict constitutionalist, chose not to accept the strict terms of the pledge that he signed.”
Trump himself claimed the party is mostly unified in a Thursday-morning tweet:
Other than a small group of people who have suffered massive and embarrassing losses, the party is VERY united. Great love in the arena!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2016
Trump invited Cruz to address the convention a few weeks ago despite the fact that the senator had not endorsed him since May 3, when he was deemed the presumptive nominee. The invitation was made during an in-person meeting between Cruz and Trump in Washington in early July.
Jason Johnson, Cruz’ chief political advisor, told the Washington Examiner that the senator made it very clear to Trump then, and then again in a telephone conversation on Monday, that he did not plan to offer an endorsement in his speech. Manafort did not dispute Johnson’s claim.
“Sen. Cruz told him directly that there would not be an endorsement,” Johnson said. “It would have been Trump’s right at that time to say not to show up, and that decision would have been accepted.”
Cruz didn’t back down Thursday, even as some Texas delegation delegates yelled at him for refusing to endorse Trump. Cruz attended his home state’s delegation breakfast Thursday morning, and defended his decision not to endorse Trump.
“That pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi that I’m going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say, ‘Thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father,'” he said.
Trump responded on Twitter by implying that Cruz didn’t go far enough to support the GOP ticket, which will be needed to ensure Hillary Clinton doesn’t win.
“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!” he said.
Meanwhile, Manafort declined to explain or comment on Trump’s New York Times interview in which he said that as president, he might not honor the obligations the U.S. has under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to defend members of the alliance that are attacked by another country.
Nor did Manafort comment on Trump’s remarks regarding the failed military coup in Turkey. The Republican nominee said that he felt Turkey’s government handled the coup admirably before adding that the U.S. doesn’t have the moral authority to criticize Ankara in any event.
“What Mr. Trump has said consistently is that he thinks NATO needs to be modernized,” Manafort said. “I’m not going to get into a foreign policy speech today.”