The stunt Ted Cruz pulled at the GOP convention in Cleveland Wednesday night may someday become known as his “Mistake on the Lake.”
By making a point to not endorse Donald Trump in his speech and telling people to vote their “conscience” in the fall Cruz did his own political future and his conservative principles no favors.
He merely made himself look like a political brat and made a few million new enemies in the Republican Party who are unlikely to forgive him when 2020 comes around.
Cruz also broke one of my father’s most important rules ---- always support the party’s nominee.
My father did that at the bitterly fought Republican convention in 1976 after he narrowly failed to take the nomination away from President Ford.
In his speech before the convention my father didn’t come right out and say “I endorse Gerald Ford” but he made it clear that he wanted Republicans to unite behind Ford and win the election, not vote their “conscience.”
Cruz, for all his brains and Constitutional principles, didn’t do the right thing for himself, his party or the country.
I’m no fan of Donald Trump. He was the last of the 17 candidates I wanted to see win my party’s nomination.
He’s a narcissist, to say the least. He’s not a real conservative. He’s not qualified. He believes a lot of dumb things ---- and isn’t afraid to blurt them out to the rest of the world.
But he won. It is hard to believe and tough to swallow, but it is what is.
Now beating Hillary in the fall is now the first order of business for all Republicans and the only person on the planet who can do that is Donald Trump.
Cruz, Kasich and the Bush clan can sulk on the sidelines and wait four more years.
The rest of us have to make sure Trump surrounds himself with more good conservative Republicans like Mike Pence, who, based on his impressive acceptance speech, looks like a perfect VP choice.
I know one thing for sure. Between now and November there’s no danger Pence will make a fool of himself or put the country to sleep like Professor Hillary will.
Trump has his faults as a presidential candidate but he’s a million times better for America than Hillary. She is not an option. She’s a liar.
The FBI’s investigation of Hillary’s private server and her extremely careless handling of classified emails didn’t result in an indictment or even a slap on the wrist.
But FBI Director James Comey’s list of un-prosecutable charges proved to anyone who was listening that she is dishonest to her core.
Like half of America, I already knew that. But what Comey said about Lying Hillary pushed me over the edge and made me realize how important it is for Donald Trump to become our next president. Watching his kids this week told me I made the right choice.
The world is a dangerous and scary place. The fact that Vladimir Putin is the world’s strongest leader proves it.
America no longer feels safe and it doesn’t feel great anymore. A President Hillary Clinton isn’t going to make it safer or greater.
The only way either of those two things can happen is to vote for the man our men in blue support, and that’s Donald J. Trump.
There is no other choice. We can’t have a Liar in Chief in the White House for the next four years.
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter