Texas Sen. Ted Cruz refused to endorse GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump Wednesday night. Naturally, this sent the media and opposing factions of the Republican Party into a tizzy.
Trump supporters booed Cruz off the stage during his speech. Instead of endorsing, Cruz merely congratulated Trump and told attendees to “vote your conscience,” which was taken by some Trump supporters to be a plea to avoid voting for the nominee.
“I want to congratulate Donald Trump on winning the nomination last night,” Cruz said. “And like each of you, I want to see the principles that our party believes prevail in November.”
He added near the end: “And to those listening, please, don’t stay home in November. If you love your country and you love your children as much as I know that you do, stand and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.”
Trump was obviously upset over Cruz’s non-endorsement, and took to Twitter late Wednesday night to express his frustration.
“Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn’t honor the pledge!” Trump tweeted. “I saw his speech two hours early but let him speak anyway. No big deal!”
At the first Republican debate, hosted by Fox News, host Brett Baier asked all candidates on stage to raise their hands if they would be “unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican Party and pledge to not run as an independent campaign against that person.”
Trump was the only person to raise his hand. That was in August 2015, but by September, Trump agreed to support the eventual nominee.
“The best way for the Republicans to win is if I win the nomination and go directly against whoever they happen to put up. And for that reason, I have signed the pledge,” Trump said. “So I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party and for the conservative principles for which it stands.”
Trump was then on board with the other candidates vowing to support the nominee. Then the primaries started.
In March, several candidates began backing away from the pledge. Ohio Gov. John Kasich said none of the candidates should “even have answered that question.”
Cruz also backed away at the time, saying, “I’m not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and my family … I think nominating Donald Trump would be an absolute trainwreck, I think it would hand the general election to Hillary Clinton.”
Trump, too, backed away from his earlier pledge, saying he had “been treated very unfairly” by the Republican establishment. Trump also said he didn’t need Cruz’s support because “I have tremendous support right now from the people.” He added that he didn’t want Cruz “to do something he’s not comfortable with.”
So Cruz had already backed away from the pledge, as had Trump. But now, when Cruz actually follows through on not backing the pledge, Trump and his supporters are upset.
It highlights how meaningless pledges can really be, as far as keeping someone at their word. Breaking a pledge could still have consequences for the person who broke it, but given the passionate opposition to Trump, Cruz might still have a place in a fractured Republican Party.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
