Ted Cruz willfully put himself in the middle of a Trumpstorm by speaking at the Republican National Convention and not endorsing the nominee, Donald Trump. He is, once again, the most hated man in Washington DC as many of his peers will see this as a betrayal of the will of a plurality of the Republican party. All they wanted him to do was sell out his principles and values and endorse the man who trashed him for months, called his wife ugly, and accused his father of perpetrating the most famous murder in American history.
That’s all.
Every bit of focus from the media will be on the fact that Ted Cruz asked people to “vote their conscience” up and down the ticket and to focus on defending the Constitution. He spent a good amount of time talking about defending freedom. He even congratulated Trump for winning the nomination. He did not utter the words, “I endorse Donald Trump,” and for that he will be vilified.
What’s missed is the fact that calling on people to vote their conscience SHOULD be enough to get them to vote for the GOP nominee. After all, if the Republican party is on the side of conservatism, freedom, and defending the Constitution, then it should be an easy leap to associate “voting your conscience” with voting for the Republican nominee. The problem is this: telling people to vote their conscience doesn’t necessarily mean voting for Trump. It’s the saddest state of political affairs when a Republican nominee going up against the corrupt Hillary Clinton cannot be definitively proclaimed as the vote of one’s conscience.
Cruz said to vote for those who will defend the Constitution. That, too, should be a no-brainer for the Republican nominee in any other year. The Republican party is one that should live and breath by the doctrines of the Constitution. That should not be in doubt. By telling people to vote for the defender of the Constitution in 2016, there’s simply no guarantee that Trump is that person. In fact, he’s said more things throughout the campaign that go against defending the Constitution than even Clinton. She butchers her interpretation to fit her goals, but at least she attempts to stay within its bounds. Trump, unfortunately, does not know those bounds because he does not know the Constitution.
While meeting with GOP Senators earlier this month, he was asked what he would do to uphold Article I powers in the Constitution. This, of course, refers to the powers granted to Congress. Trump’s response was that he’d uphold Article I, Article II, Article XII, and all the rest. Unfortunately for Trump, there aren’t 12 Articles in the Constitution. There are 7. Even worse, he unwittingly declared that he would uphold his own powers as President which are detailed in Article II. That’s the problem we’re facing with President Obama; he has attempted to expand Article II powers which is exactly what had the GOP Senators concerned. Trump, who clearly knows absolutely nothing about the document that is to be defended by the office he’s running for, is the first GOP candidate in modern history to be arguably less protective of the Constitution than the Democratic nominee.
Ted Cruz proved very clearly that he’s fearless, principled, and has a clear understanding of the things that Trump needs to know. That Republicans will bash him for expecting people to vote for freedom, conscience, and defense of the Constitution is the clearest sign of the downfall of the party itself. Trump has killed the GOP. It’s time for a new conservative party to be formed immediately.