Thunderous boos for Cruz, who refuses to endorse Trump. Julie Pace and Jill Colvin, AP via Chron.com
It's an open secret that Cruz viewed this speech as his "Reagan moment" harboring visions of the Gipper's 1976 Republican National Convention speech that catapulted him to the front of the conservative pecking order and into deity status among the party faithful (this, historical revisionism aside, despite not actually accomplishing the conservative goals that he set forth that evening).Undercutting calls for Republican unity, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz stubbornly refused to endorse Donald Trump Wednesday night as he addressed the GOP convention, igniting thunderous boos from furious delegates as he encouraged Americans to simply "vote your conscience" in November.In a surreal moment, Trump unexpectedly walked into the arena just as Cruz was wrapping up his remarks. Delegates chanted Trump's name and implored Cruz to voice his support for the businessman, to no avail.
After starting the campaign as a staunch Trump defender, and allowing others to try and take the lead attacking him, and consequentially, getting attacked, ruthlessly, by the Trumpets. Cruz eventually had to pivot late and became the victim of Trump's smears of his wife and father.
Outside of Texas, this is not a good look. In Texas, where Texas Republicans are desperate for a conservative water-carrier, Cruz is being hailed as not only wearing Ronald Reagan's underwear, but being present when they were woven from the bands of liberty.
Just. Stop.
The first thing is this. If you're of a GOP-lean to 'turn back the clock' to Reagan-era Republicanism then you're part of the problem. It's not the 80's and most of the electorate (myself included) wasn't old enough to have even cast a ballot for his Ronaldness. Yes, Reagan did some good things and he made the GOP (and America) believe again after the morass that was the Carter administration, but he also did some things wrong (refusing to go after entitlement reform along with cutting taxes) that was chief among them and, indirectly, added to some of the structural problems we have today. Reagan is great, as a historical figure, but he shouldn't be used as the basis for a party platform. We're never going back to the 80's (thank the Lord) and we shouldn't be trying to. Hopefully wherever disaffected conservatives (including myself) end up in these PostGOP days hopefully we won't bring the anchor of Reagan with us.
But Cruz is no Reagan.
He never was, and he never will be. In fact, despite his so-called principled (more on that in a minute) stand in his speech last night the fact remains that Cruz is a candidate with appeal in a very narrowly defined region: Texas and Oklahoma. He couldn't sweep the South as his campaign predicted and, Nationally at least, his favorable/unfavorable ratings fell off a cliff (even, to a lesser extent, in Texas) when he pivoted from Trumpet to Trump basher. Cruz' biggest problem is that, outside of the faithful followers, his sudden anti-Trumpness is seen to be just more opportunism from the opportunist's opportunist. Ted Cruz is widely viewed as having one guiding principle, his designs on the Presidency.
So Cruz makes his speech and the Trumpets blared. As they do. Some even went so far as to physically threaten both Cruz and his wife. If this is emblematic of the "new" GOP then count me, and many others, out. In fact, the new-ish alt-right GOP is an increasingly authoritarian, nationalist and white supremacist party. It's not a pretty place to be. Not all Trumpets are that way, of course, just as not all Democrats are stark-raving socialists, but enough are that they are currently controlling the narrative. At least they come about their beliefs honestly however, which is more than can be said for the remaining GOP faction.
I'm speaking about the party loyalists, the people who are glancing askew at the #NeverTrump movement and giving them the stink-eye over not falling in line. The people who still have #MarcoRubio2016 in their social media profiles and who, for some reason, think that they have "built the party" and feel that people "owe" the GOP a vote. What they don't realize is that when you lie down with dogs, you wind up with fleas. Pardon me for dissenting but to me principle is more important than assuaging the egos of people desperately trying to remain relevant.
The GOP is your party, not mine, and it clearly has no room in it for ideological diversity. In a way, it's become the Democrat party without minority groups. It's a monolithic turd in the punch-bowl of politics whose time has passed us by.
Both parties are relics, but they're being kept on life-support because they also write the rules. And those who write the rules have an advantage in the game.
No, I will not vote for Trump. And I will not vote for Hillary either. Nor do I have any obligation to ensure that down-ballot races are won by a GOP whose chosen to adopt into their platform, ideas that I find objectionable.
The GOP is your party Trumpets. Which is what all of you now are. Guilt by association and such.
