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Cruz Bows the Knee
“Hail Hydra.”
The principled junior senator from Texas has officially endorsed the guy who claimed Rafael Cruz assassinated JFK. His full, lawyerly, too-clever-by-three-quarters statement from Facebook:
This election is unlike any other in our nation’s history. Like many other voters, I have struggled to determine the right course of action in this general election.
In Cleveland, I urged voters, “please, don’t stay home in November. Stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket whom you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.”
After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
I’ve made this decision for two reasons. First, last year, I promised to support the Republican nominee. And I intend to keep my word.
Second, even though I have had areas of significant disagreement with our nominee, by any measure Hillary Clinton is wholly unacceptable — that’s why I have always been #NeverHillary.
Six key policy differences inform my decision. First, and most important, the Supreme Court. For anyone concerned about the Bill of Rights — free speech, religious liberty, the Second Amendment — the Court hangs in the balance. I have spent my professional career fighting before the Court to defend the Constitution. We are only one justice away from losing our most basic rights, and the next president will appoint as many as four new justices. We know, without a doubt, that every Clinton appointee would be a left-wing ideologue. Trump, in contrast, has promised to appoint justices “in the mold of Scalia.”
For some time, I have been seeking greater specificity on this issue, and today the Trump campaign provided that, releasing a very strong list of potential Supreme Court nominees — including Sen. Mike Lee, who would make an extraordinary justice — and making an explicit commitment to nominate only from that list. This commitment matters, and it provides a serious reason for voters to choose to support Trump.
Second, Obamacare. The failed healthcare law is hurting millions of Americans. If Republicans hold Congress, leadership has committed to passing legislation repealing Obamacare. Clinton, we know beyond a shadow of doubt, would veto that legislation. Trump has said he would sign it.
Third, energy. Clinton would continue the Obama administration’s war on coal and relentless efforts to crush the oil and gas industry. Trump has said he will reduce regulations and allow the blossoming American energy renaissance to create millions of new high-paying jobs.
Fourth, immigration. Clinton would continue and even expand President Obama’s lawless executive amnesty. Trump has promised that he would revoke those illegal executive orders.
Fifth, national security. Clinton would continue the Obama administration’s willful blindness to radical Islamic terrorism. She would continue importing Middle Eastern refugees whom the FBI cannot vet to make sure they are not terrorists. Trump has promised to stop the deluge of unvetted refugees.
Sixth, Internet freedom. Clinton supports Obama’s plan to hand over control of the Internet to an international community of stakeholders, including Russia, China, and Iran. Just this week, Trump came out strongly against that plan, and in support of free speech online.
These are six vital issues where the candidates’ positions present a clear choice for the American people.
If Clinton wins, we know — with 100% certainty — that she would deliver on her left-wing promises, with devastating results for our country.
My conscience tells me I must do whatever I can to stop that.
We also have seen, over the past few weeks and months, a Trump campaign focusing more and more on freedom — including emphasizing school choice and the power of economic growth to lift African-Americans and Hispanics to prosperity.
Finally, after eight years of a lawless Obama administration, targeting and persecuting those disfavored by the administration, fidelity to the rule of law has never been more important.
The Supreme Court will be critical in preserving the rule of law. And, if the next administration fails to honor the Constitution and Bill of Rights, then I hope that Republicans and Democrats will stand united in protecting our fundamental liberties.
Our country is in crisis. Hillary Clinton is manifestly unfit to be president, and her policies would harm millions of Americans. And Donald Trump is the only thing standing in her way.
A year ago, I pledged to endorse the Republican nominee, and I am honoring that commitment. And if you don’t want to see a Hillary Clinton presidency, I encourage you to vote for him.
Unbelievably, pasta-spined John Kasich and low-energy Jeb Bush are the only GOP candidates who haven’t caved to the Republican nominee. Trump protégé Omarosa said this week that “every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump.” In that case, put me on Team Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Published in General
Hail Hydra indeed.
Halleluja!
I think you need to put principled in quotation marks, Jon.
Borrowing from myself:
What, specifically, do you find too-clever-by-three-quarters?
In any case, you appear to have that NeverTrump signature religious self-righteousness thing down pretty good, walkin’ in the furnace with your God.
Or maybe it’s not God. Maybe that other figure is a certain someone else who is all too happy snatch you by your pride.
I actually think that he made the case for Trump better than the Trump campaign.
I think that maybe Cruz (my guy) finally realized that a Hillary presidency would be significantly more deplorable than a Trump presidency. Putting Hillary Clinton in the White House would be like surgically inserting a stage four tumor into your brain. She is a malignancy that will kill this country . . .
Agree completely
Yeah, Jon, you haven’t exactly made an argument against Cruz’s six reasons, which many of us Trump voters found compelling some time around the Indiana primary. I can understand Cruz being more reluctant than most, given the bitter contentiousness of the primary. He had a reason to take it personally. I just don’t understand why #NeverTrumpers do.
My Trust(in)Ted restored. We must #TrumpHillary
Just a wild guess, but it might mean he suddenly remembered he has an obligation to this country and cannot abide a Clinton presidency.
So, it had slipped his mind?
What Cruz said is pretty much what I was thinking. I don’t think not voting for a particular candidate should be a matter of principle. It’s a calculation of which result will be less harmful. As the primaries progressed and I saw more of Trump, I concluded there was nothing to be gained by electing him. Trump didn’t even seem interested in appealing to conservatives. But in the last few months, Trump has been saying things that I like. Maybe he felt the need to appeal to conservatives. Maybe Cruz withholding his support pressured Trump to make conservative overtures. If so, great. That’s how politics works. Maybe it will mean nothing when Trump’s elected, but at least he’s demonstrated that he can be moved to act conservative.
I wish Cruz had not cited the pledge as part of his reason for supporting Trump. If voting for Trump is wrong, pledging to vote for him doesn’t make it okay to vote for him.
Well, it won’t be a “binary choice” when Cruz runs again for re-election because I’m pretty sure there will be a primary challenger or two for the junior senator ‘s office in Texas.
We will have to see what the world looks like in 2018, of course, but I do wonder how his evolving positions will impact his long-term career.
Those who thought he made what they perceived was a principled stand will no longer give him credit for it, and I guess TX Trump voters will remember his address at the convention that kept the party fractured? Will they still blame him if Clinton wins? Or is getting on the Trump Train now enough to remove any memory of that speech during which security had to escort his wife off the convention floor?
Taking 2016 completely off the table, it’s fascinating to contemplate who will remember what when it’s time for Cruz to start campaigning…
I wonder if he “made a deal” and asked for consideration per a Supreme Court appointment.
Good for Ted Cruz. I’m glad he has come around.
Reason #7:
Sean Hannity is a baaad dude with a fearsome chop.
He’s finally figured out the only person standing between Clinton and the presidency is Trump. How long will it take you? Or what’s your plan to defeat her? Gary Johnson?? Oof.
As @westernchauvinist pointed out, Cruz had understandable personal reasons for withholding an explicit endorsement that the rest of us are unburdened by.
That implies Trump has been putting pressure on them. Has he? Or is this more cognitive dissonance to make the #NeverTrumpers the heroes they aren’t?
Ah, has Trump recanted those statements?
I’ve never considered Shadrach, et al., to be self righteous, but people who believed in principle over power. It is hard for me to respect a man who would support the guy who alleged his dad murdered a president and called his wife ugly. Reason #13,492 that I’m not a politician.
CastraTED
That grenade you’ve thrown yourself upon has at least amplified your martyrdom if not your heroism.
I have never called Jeb or Postmaster General Jr. “heroes.” Heck, I called on Jeb to drop out in August.
I’ve come to realize that most NeverTrumpers actually don’t think Hillary is that bad. To the contrary, she is a run-of-the-mill Democrat to the them, by historical metrics. They know that it’s going to be Trump or Hillary, and while they won’t vote for Hillary to save themselves, they perceive, from the shame or responsibility, they actual want her to win. Asking them how they plan to defeat her is pointless.
I don’t contest that. Please consider, in light of that and my loathing for Hillary Clinton, how very low my opinion of Trump must, therefore, be.
By the way, I don’t think less of folks who come to a different conclusion about this, so long as they’re clear-eyed about who Donald Trump is; Clinton is so awful that I really do think it’s a close call. It’d be nice to have that grace returned.
Nope. I see nothing to gain for rewarding the libertarian party for nominating someone as weak and with such a poor set of priorities as Johnson (thank you, but I value freedom of conscience more than pot legalization; and let’s not even get started on the rest of it). Pathetic as it may be, I may just have to vote for McMullin, though I might as well vote for Mickey Mouse at that point.
I wan’t suggesting they were self righteous. I was suggesting you are, and the god you’re worshiping is not principle.
Ted Cruz lives in a world of consequences. Perhaps you believe you don’t.
Despite many on Ricochet having a long record of being Anti-Hillary? I think it’s because we asses the risk of a Trump Presidency differently.
Alternatively, they might agree that Clinton is awful but don’t think Trump is better.
Focusing on the presidential candidates as individuals tends to obscure the fact that the president of the United States sits on the actual dispensing of the dollars authorized in the budget that Congress passes. The executive branch is also responsible for enforcement of the laws. And it conducts all foreign relations. And it oversees the military.
I have always been disappointed in Democratic Party executives so I always vote for Republicans.
The Democrats have controlled the executive branch for the last eight years. We’ve got to get some fresh air in there.
Persuasive!(Self redacted; sarcasm is unwarranted).