Sorry? N’ah
Cruz: Don didn’t apologize, but I forgive him
HE’S CRYIN’ Ted.
Ted Cruz said Saturday his decision to finally support Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee was “agonizing” — and revealed he’d suffered even more humiliation from his former foe.
The Texas senator said he’s spoken to Trump on the phone since his shocking decision to back him — and his GOP primary opponent didn’t bother apologizing for his sharp-tongued comments about Cruz’s wife and father.
“My faith teaches me to forgive, with or without an apology,” Cruz said, telling the crowd at a Texas Tribune policy forum in Austin that his family decided to not hold a grudge against Trump.
During the course of the primary, Trump dubbed Cruz “Lyin’ Ted,” called him a Canadian and insinuated his wife was unattractive and that his father might have been linked to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“Both Heidi and my dad — they are strong, independent people” who’ve forgiven the remarks, Cruz said.
Cruz wasn’t the only flip-flopper — he said Trump thanked him on the phone, despite his earlier assertion he wouldn’t accept a Cruz endorsement.
The suddenly spineless senator denied he caved in to GOP pressure and falling poll numbers by reversing course and announcing that he will vote for Trump in the election.
He said, “whatever path I went down, there were going to be people dismayed.
“There was no option that wouldn’t result with people who are deeply, deeply unhappy,” he added.
Cruz refused for months to get behind Trump, saying the bellicose tycoon went too far in insulting his family during the bitter primaries.
He also caused a stir at the Republican National Convention in July by not offering his endorsement of the man he’s called a “sniveling coward” and a “big government liberal.”
Cruz said he was ultimately swayed by Trump’s running mate Mike Pence.
Assurances from the Indiana governor that Trump’s potential Supreme Court justice nominations would be restricted to the list of 21 justices circulated by his campaign last year — with the addition of Cruz’s buddy Sen. Mike Lee on Friday — swayed Cruz into The Donald’s corner.
Aides said Cruz ultimately didn’t want to be seen as helping Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Cruz offered little defense of Trump’s most outrageous positions and comments, including his proposed ban on Muslim immigrants.
Asked whether he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was a better leader than President Obama, as Trump suggested, Cruz said, “I have no intention of defending everything Donald Trump says or does.”