Cruz tells Texas GOP: Don’t lose hope
“I don’t know what the future will hold. … I am convinced from all of my soul God is not done with America yet.” Senator encourages supporters to remain strong amid party crisis
DALLAS— It took less than two minutes for the guy trying to rally Texas Republicans around Donald Trump to discover how much work he had to do.
The Trump staffer in an elephant-dotted tie had only just begun distributing campaign stickers to state party convention attendees leaving the main hall Thursday morning after speeches by Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick when one of the activists responded angrily to the idea of voting for the billionaire businessman.
“I despise that man,” said Sheridan King, a 62-year-old homemaker from Bedford.
“Aw,” the campaign staffer responded, striking a playful tone. “He loves you!”
“Yeah,” King scoffed and walked away.
The theme of the 2016 Texas GOP state convention may have been “Unite to Win,” but the weeklong gathering here revealed a reluctance among women and other activists in the nation’s biggest Republican state to embrace the party’s presumptive nominee, even if failing to do so could hand the presidential election to the Democrats.
Abbott, Patrick and other leaders, who, like the state as a whole, initially supported hometown U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, urged the party to unify behind Trump, and many activists said they would. There were plenty of signs, however, that others were not ready, from the bumper stickers on sale in the exhibition hall showing Trump and
the words “Nonsensical Ravings of a Lunatic Mind” to the somewhat subdued mood that settled over the typically festive convention, which took place less than two weeks after Cruz suspended his campaign.
“I think a lot of us are still in the grieving process,” Comptroller Glenn Hegar said after his speech to the convention, which did not mention Trump, an omission also made by Abbott and most other top officials.
“We need time. People are going to take some time, and then they’ll figure out what to do,” Hegar said, predicting the party eventually would come together to defeat the Democratic nominee.
Cruz: ‘God is not done’
Cruz did little to speed up that process in his highly anticipated speech, which was welcomed Saturday afternoon with a loud standing ovation from the crowd.
The Houston lawyer, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, gave no indication about whether he would endorse Trump. Instead, he delivered a discourse on the meaning of conservatism, repeated lines from his stump speech such as the need to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law and encouraged his supporters not to lose hope.
“I don’t know what the future will hold. We may face some challenging days ahead,” Cruz said. “I am convinced from all of my soul God is not done with America yet.”
Beyond avoiding any mention of Trump, Cruz also stopped short of saying “unite,” a recent buzzword among Republicans eager to mend the fractures of a viciously divisive primary race.
He made no call for his former supporters to vote Republican — to vote Trump — in the general election, which many Republicans worry could see exceptionally low turnout due to ideological splits in the electorate.
Seeking to rout Dems
Trump did not attend the convention, although rumors of an appearance persisted throughout the week. Instead, his surrogate, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, came to give a speech, which was scheduled for late Saturday — after Tarrant County Commissioner Andy Nguyen.
“Let’s put the primary behind us,” Sessions urged at the end of a policy-focused speech that centered on trade issues, including a promise that Trump would end the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “It was rough, no doubt about it. But we can and will unite.”
The Trump campaign declined multiple interview requests.
Several people affiliated with the campaign dismissed concerns about unity, saying there was plenty of time for supporters of other candidates to realize that not supporting Trump could lead to four more years of Democratic leadership.
“Trump and Cruz supporters agree on much more than they disagree, and people will realize that when the election comes,” said Chris Casey, 27, a Texas A&M University student who serves as deputy Texas director of Students for Trump and said hundreds came to the campaign booth to sign up as volunteers.
“We have time. We have more time than the Democrats,” said Casey, referencing the fact that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont still is fiercely challenging former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for that party’s nomination.
That fight is still ongoing, but Clinton is on track to win, and many strategists believe it will be easier for Democrats to unite because their primary has been less contentious.
Democrats often were mentioned by Trump supporters, including Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton, who said in his speech that he was devastated by Cruz’s loss but would support Trump because “the party is bigger than one man.”
“I am going to vote for our nominee, not because of the man he is today, but because of the president I hope all of us can help him to become,” Sitton said.
The importance of defeating Clinton also was cited by Don and Kari Hallmark, an Odessa couple who voted for Cruz in the primary but signed up as Trump volunteers Friday.
“Not voting for Trump, or not voting at all, is a vote for Hillary,” said Don Hallmark, 24, a Chevron fuel specialist attending his first convention.
Activist Dennis Thrush of Dallas put it another way: “He’s not my first choice, he’s not my second choice, he’s not my 17th choice,” said Thrush, citing the number of major Republicans who ran this year. “But he’s a whole lot better than the alternative.”
A vote for ‘evil’?
Others were not persuaded by that argument, however.
Linda Jordan, a delegate from Houston, said she was not sure Trump would be any better than a Democrat, in part because of his past liberal policy positions and political contributions.
“I don’t know where he stands, but he has supported Democrats, abortion. He stands for himself. And he is not an American that I want in the White House,” said Jordan, who said that if Trump is the GOP nominee, she will not vote. “I will not be held accountable for my vote for someone that evil.”
Similar sentiments abounded at the Texas GOPStore in the exhibition hall, where former party official Michael Franks was selling anti-Trump bumper stickers and shirts.
Franks said he had heard from a lot of customers who hoped that Trump would be denied the nomination in Cleveland — an unlikely outcome, given that the businessman is on track to have a majority of delegates and no other major Republican is actively campaigning.
Sheridan King, the activist who despises Trump, said she also was holding out hope for the “very, very slim chance” that he would not get the nomination.
If he does, King said, she would have to make a tough decision. She decried Trump as a sexist, unserious “carnival barker with a Cheeto-face” and said she feared that he would govern as an “emperor,” but she added that she was reluctant to help the Democrats.
“I’m not really a #NeverTrump,” said King, referring to the Twitter hashtag used by Republicans who say they will never support the businessman. “I guess I’m more like a #PleaseTrumpBeASeriousConservativeSoICanVote- ForYou.”