Ted Cruz urges Republicans to 'vote your conscience' during RNC speech

CLEVELAND

Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday seemed to be following the adage: “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all,” because he literally said nothing nice about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during his prime-time convention speech.

In fact, he told the GOP to show up to the polls in November and vote their conscience. He never once mentioned Trump in speech, except when he congratulated him before formally beginning the speech.

“Please, don’t stay home in November,” Cruz said. “If you love our country and love our children, as much as I know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience.”

Cruz delivered a lengthy speech about freedom but it seemed to be more about his freedom not to endorse Trump.

“Freedom matters and I was part of something beautiful,” he said.

Cruz told reporters July 7 that he accepted Trump’s invitation to speak at the convention without any discussion of an endorsement.

“I want to see the principles that our party believes prevail in November,” Cruz said in the opening of his speech with no reference to Trump or whether the nominee even shares those principles.

Thunderous applause and standing ovations were a constant throughout Cruz’s speech.

Earlier in the day, Cruz had spoken about party unity during a thank you party for his campaign staff. “I want to see unity, and the way for us to see unity is for us to unite on shared principles, us to unite in defense of liberty,” he said.

Uniting with Trump is especially difficult for Cruz after a rancorous primary campaign. Although they started their presidential bids as friends and allies, Trump and Cruz quickly evolved into mortal enemies. The personal insults they lobbed at one another in the last few months of the primary season were frequent and numerous.

Trump went as far as to insult Cruz’s wife and insinuate that the senator’s father was involved in President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Before dropping out of the race, Cruz shared his true feelings about Trump, calling him a “pathological liar,” “amoral,” a “serial philanderer” and a “narcissist.”