Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign is fundraising to protect delegates to the Republican National Convention against possible violence from Donald Trump supporters.
Cruz has created a “delegate defense fund” that “will keep delegates updated with timely information regarding threats to their safety and ensure that our campaign is able to protect the integrity of our party and the nominating process.”
“What does it say about Donald Trump that we have to set campaigning aside, and build a fund to defend good and decent people from Trump’s campaign and his bullies?” Cruz writes in the fundraising solicitation. “From Colorado to Indiana to Delaware, Donald Trump’s campaign and supporters are preparing an all-out war on Republican delegates.”
The fundraising email hypes the threat of potential attacks on delegates and says, “The threats are so serious, that part of the convention plan now has to include security at the hotel of every delegate!”
Donors to the fund will also receive a “Deputy Delegate” card from the Cruz campaign, which is an item that has previously sparked criticism from CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who suggested it misleads Cruz supporters.
The Texas senator has previously blasted Trump for behaving like a “mobster” and argued that Trump has a “consistent pattern of inciting violence.”
Now, Cruz is framing the stakes of the GOP primary as more important than ever before.
“I cannot overstate the importance of this mission,” Cruz writes in the email. “The future of our nation — and the world — is on the line in this 2016 presidential election.”
