Regardless of whom you support for president, the spectacle of the GOP Convention in Cleveland last night was something to behold.
Let’s make sure we’re covered on the facts:
Late Wednesday night, a source within the Cruz team informed Daily Wire exclusively that the Trump campaign had sandbagged Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) over his speech at the Republican National Convention. Cruz spoke at the RNC, where he congratulated Trump on his campaign victory, then spoke about the necessity for freedom and finally stated that Americans should “vote your conscience.” He was met with resounding boos on the floor of the convention; his wife Heidi had to be rushed from the room; according to reports, one Republican delegate physically accosted Cruz, and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson refused to meet with Cruz.
According to the source, the entire Cruz speech was cleared by the Trump campaign. Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, expressly approved the speech at 4:30 PM ET. The source, who was standing on the convention floor at the time of the speech, said that Trump operatives were present, urging the crowd to boo. “This was orchestrated by the Trump campaign to make Senator Cruz a pariah within the party,” said the source.
Recap:
• Trump knew exactly what Cruz was going to say, two hours ahead of time.
• Trump had no objections to the content of Cruz’s speech.
• Instead of sitting there calmly while Cruz finished, and simply moving on, Trump’s team whips up delegates to boo when it was clear to the crowd that Cruz would not be endorsing Trump.
• Trump walks among the crowd a bit ostentatiously to engender sympathy for the big, bad Ted Cruz attacking poor little Donald Trump.
Last week, I was hopeful that the delegates would stage some kind of revolt, and redirect all pledged votes to Cruz. Due to shenanigans orchestrated by GOP, Chairman Reince Priebus and Speaker Paul Ryan, that didn’t happen – proving once and for all that the Establishment hates Ted Cruz more than Donald Trump.
But now that Trump is officially the nominee, we all have a choice. So I ask you to do what Ted Cruz asked last night: Don’t sit this out, and vote your conscience. So much of life is just showing up and participating, so I believe the first step is the easier thing to do, especially with the down ticket offices. On whom to vote for president, all we have to do is vote so that we can live with ourselves regardless of the consequences.
No decision has to be made today, and even if it did, no decision is locked in. Let’s take our time, read up on all candidates and issues, and go into the booths with no blinders. A lot can happen between now and November.
In the meantime…
In the 1998 movie Deep Impact, President Tom Beck (Morgan Freeman), knowing that a comet is about to wipe out all life on earth, said the following:
I wish. [pause] No, wishing is wrong. It’s the wrong word right now. That’s not what I mean.
What I mean is, I believe in God. I know a lot of you don’t, but I still want to offer a prayer for our survival, mine included.
Because I believe that God, whomever you hold that to be, hears all prayers, even if sometimes the answer is no.
So may the Lord bless, may the Lord keep you, may the Lord lift up His divine countenance upon you, and give you peace.
photo credit: Ted Cruz via photopin (license); Gage Skidmore
