Conservative leaders and pundits who backed Ted Cruz in the primary or have long opposed Donald Trump were crestfallen to learn on Friday that the Texas senator now plans to vote for his party’s presidential nominee on Nov. 8.
Until Friday, Cruz had stubbornly withheld his endorsement of Trump for months, going so far as to encourage Republicans to vote their conscience during his prime-time speech at the GOP convention in July.
The ex-White House hopeful, who became Trump’s toughest opponent and critic in the primary, had earned the respect of conservative personalities like Glenn Beck and talk-radio host Dana Loesch for standing alone while other conservative politicians, who had spent months ridiculing Trump, slowly lined up behind him.
That all changed on Friday, when Cruz announced that, after “many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching [his] own conscience,” he would cast his ballot for Trump.
Here’s how Beck, Loesch and dozens of other conservatives reacted:
Beck, head of the conservative website the Blaze, took to Facebook to express his profound “disappointment.”
Loesch, a colleague of Beck’s, appeared to be equally displeased with Cruz in a series of tweets posted soon after his endorsement was announced.
There are people who are entrenched in NeverTrump because of Cruz, specifically. Some feel misled.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 23, 2016
All politicians are the same.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 23, 2016
A senior editor at the conservative website Hot Air juxtaposed Cruz’s endorsement with recent comments made by a member of Trump’s Minority Outreach Committee.
Darkly amusing that Cruz decided to endorse within 24 hrs of this going online https://t.co/sOJADdsSqv
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) September 23, 2016
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a close friend of Cruz in the Senate and steadfast opponent of Trump, declined to specifically address his colleague’s endorsement but indicated he wouldn’t follow Cruz’s lead. Lee said in a statement:
“I consistently follow certain criteria when deciding whether to endorse any candidate pursuing a federal office. Those criteria focus on each candidate’s grasp of — and willingness to work tirelessly to restore — federalism and separation of powers,” Lee said in a statement shared by his office regarding the “Cruz endorsement of Trump.” “I am always eager to support any candidate willing to make those structural constitutional protections a priority. In this race and in every other, I will continue to use the same criteria.”
Rick Tyler, the former communications director for Cruz’s presidential campaign, told NBC News’ Hallie Jackson he plans to remove his “Cruz 2016” bumper sticker from his car.
Cruz’s former comms guy, @rickwtyler, to me just now: “It’s mourning in America for conservatives. We lost our leader today.”
— Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) September 23, 2016
CNN commentator and conservative author S.E. Cupp said Cruz had mastered the “sellout hat trick.”
Cruz 2016: self over party; party over family; politics over principles. Congrats, that’s the sellout hat trick!
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) September 23, 2016
Dozens more Cruz supporters took to his Facebook page to leave brutal comments about his change of heart.
