Ted Cruz’s speech Wednesday night was an impressive endorsement of conservatism, the Constitution, and liberty—and an equally impressive non-endorsement of Donald Trump. It was, in other words, a conservative version of Ted Kennedy’s “Dream Will Never Die” speech, given at the 1980 Democratic convention.
The background of that fight is similar to the 2016 GOP battle. Jimmy Carter and Kennedy fought a bruising primary battle, which was not merely a clash of personalities but of principles. Kennedy was the liberal icon of the Democratic party, and Carter (whose tenure has since been misremembered as liberal), had rankled the left during his tenure in office. He called for welfare reform, cutbacks in domestic expenditures, and an increase in military spending. The primary began favorably for Carter, whose popularity temporarily spiked during the Iran hostage crisis, but Kennedy turned the corner in the New York primary, and won a string of late victories.
When he rose to speak at the Democratic convention, he gave a stirring defense of postwar liberalism. He had only this to say about Carter, toward the end of his speech:
He then followed up this lukewarm non-endorsement with the following, implicit rebuke:
This was an extraordinary, if tacit, denunciation of Carter. Kennedy essentially signaled that the sitting Democratic president was not part of his party’s liberal tradition, exemplified by JFK and RFK. Kennedy was the keeper of that flame, and if Carter wanted to win in November, he had to embrace this postwar liberal tradition.
This is a good framework for understanding Cruz’s speech. The Texan praised his conservative principles and suggested that if the party embraced them, it would win. For Trump—a man who manifestly rejects those principles—he offered only his congratulations, not his endorsement.
The Democrats of 1980 and Republicans of 2016 were split not merely because of personalities, but principles—and it is very hard for a party to unify in such circumstances. Just as it was asking too much of Kennedy to endorse the moderate Carter, it was asking too much of Cruz to endorse the liberal Trump.
One notable difference is that Kennedy took his campaign all the way to the 1980 convention and could therefore insist on a speaking slot. Cruz, on the other hand, bowed out in May. The Trump forces and the RNC did not need to offer such visibility. That they chose to anyway suggests they really do not understand the forces at work within their party right now.
