Ted Cruz endorses Donald Trump

Ted Cruz endorses Donald Trump days ahead of first US presidential debate
"After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump," Cruz wrote in a Facebook post.

"A year ago, I pledged to endorse the Republican nominee, and I am honoring that commitment. And if you don"t want to see a Hillary Clinton presidency, I encourage you to vote for him."

"I am greatly honored by the endorsement of Senator Cruz," Trump said in a statement obtained by CNN. "We have fought the battle and he was a tough and brilliant opponent. I look forward to working with him for many years to come in order to make America great again."

The move -- three days before Trump"s critical first debate with Clinton -- comes as the Trump and Cruz camps have moved closer in recent weeks.

Trump"s vice presidential nominee Mike Pence played a key role in bringing Cruz into the fold. Pence and Cruz traded multiple messages, then spoke at length once on the phone and again in person, when Pence visited Capitol Hill a few weeks ago, a source close to Pence said.

Trump has hired key Cruz allies such as Kellyanne Conway as his campaign manager, and Jason Miller as a spokesman.

Wednesday, Trump"s campaign expressed support for a Cruz-backed, Internet-related proposal in government funding talks in the Senate.

Friday, Trump released a new list of conservative judges likely to appeal to the former Supreme Court clerk -- including perhaps Cruz"s closest friend in Congress, Utah Sen. Mike Lee.

Cruz cited Trump"s pledges on the judiciary in his Facebook post. "We know, without a doubt, that every Clinton appointee would be a left-wing ideologue. Trump, in contrast, has promised to appoint justices "in the mold of (the late Antonin) Scalia," Cruz wrote. "For some time, I have been seeking greater specificity on this issue, and today the Trump campaign provided that, releasing a very strong list of potential Supreme Court nominees including Sen. Mike Lee, who would make an extraordinary justice and making an explicit commitment to nominate only from that list."

A Cruz endorsement could be the last pillar to helping Trump shore up the support of conservatives who have remained reticent about supporting his campaign.

Trump has already gotten most Republicans and conservatives on board with his campaign -- largely by reassuring them on the Supreme Court and on issues like the Second Amendment and abortion. But Cruz"s principled opposition to offering his support has given some conservatives high-profile cover.

Just as Cruz"s refusal to endorse Trump at the RNC fueled Democrats" efforts to paint Trump as divisive even within his own party, Cruz"s endorsement will help undermine that narrative -- suggesting to conservatives unsure about Trump that perhaps the brash billionaire has changed, and can be trusted to bring conservative change to Washington.

"Lyin" Ted" and "utterly amoral"

The move marks a dramatic turnaround from the personal insults Cruz and Trump traded during the previous year.

The two men clashed repeatedly during the primaries, as Trump taunted the senator with the nickname "Lyin" Ted," suggested Cruz wasn"t eligible to be president due to his Canadian birthplace, and even speculated that Cruz"s father was involved in the JFK assassination. Trump also said Cruz should "be careful" or he would "spill the beans on your wife," and retweeted an unflattering picture of Heidi Cruz. Those tweets have not been deleted from Trump"s account.On his last day of the GOP campaign -- the Indiana primary in early May -- Cruz let loose against Trump, calling the businessman a "serial philanderer," "utterly amoral," and "a narcissist at a level I don"t think this country"s ever seen.

At the RNC in Cleveland, Cruz gave a memorable speech espousing conservative values but ended without endorsing Trump, as Trump allies booed from the convention floor. "Don"t stay home in November," Cruz said. "Stand and speak and vote your conscience."

The next day, he defended the move by citing Trump"s attacks against his family.

"I"m not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father," Cruz told members of the Texas delegation. "That pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi that I"m going to nonetheless come as a servile puppy dog and say, "Thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father.""After the convention, Trump said that he would not accept Cruz"s endorsement if he offered it.

"I don"t want his endorsement. If he gives it, I will not accept it, just so you understand. If he gives it I will -- I will not accept. It won"t matter. Honestly he should"ve done it because nobody cares and he would"ve been in better shape for four years from now," Trump said.

Facing Senate primary in 2018?

Cruz"s move may also be politically expedient. He faces a possible 2018 Senate primary challenge from Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who has increasingly made an issue of Cruz"s failure to endorse Trump.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has said Republicans who don"t back Trump could pay a price down the road. And Trump also floated the idea of setting up a super PAC to oppose Cruz if he decided to run for office again.

Clinton"s campaign, after Cruz"s message posted on Facebook, was happy to note a number of shots Cruz took at Trump during the primary, including when he called on the businessman to release his tax returns.

Clinton"s official twitter account retweeted a tweet Cruz sent during the primary that said, "I"ve released 9 years of tax returns. RT if you agree it"s time for Donald Trump to release his!"

Clinton"s campaign has been hounding Trump to release his taxes, arguing that he isn"t doing so because they show shady business deals and ties to Russia. Trump has said he would release his taxes after an IRS audit.

Clinton"s vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine, campaigning in Austin, Texas, Friday, said he couldn"t support someone who used the same language Trump did about Cruz"s father.

"I just can"t help but say this," Kaine said. "Donald Trump suggested that Ted Cruz"s dad was involved in the JFK assassination. Now we know that that is false, but false isn"t, there"s not the right word to describe what that is. It is so outrageously false. And as far as I know Donald Trump has not retracted it. As far as I know he has not apologized for it. And so if somebody said that about my dad they would never have me as a supporter for anything."

Radio host Steve Deace tweeted his disappointment, calling the move a mistake and speculating that Cruz backers may not all follow the senator.

"I think it"s the worst political miscalculation of my lifetime. I hope I am wrong. The people will decide that," Deace tweeted.

CNN"s Jeremy Diamond, Tom LoBianco, Dan Merica, Betsy Klein, and Dan Berman contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/23/politics/ted-cruz-endorses-donald-trump/

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Ted Cruz, Tea Party Hawk

Freshman Senator Ted Cruz is running for president, hoping to gain the Republican nomination bybringing together conservatives, libertarians and evangelicals. On foreign policy, thats a tough balance to strike. Yet Cruz has crafted his own brand of hawkishness tailored to please even his Tea Party supporters.

In a long interviewat the Halifax International Security Conference late last year, Cruz walked me through his strategy for staking out a positionthat falls somewhere between the isolationism of Senator Rand Paul and the neoconservatism of Senator John McCain. When asked which foreign policy experts he trusts, he named three: John Bolton, ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush; Elliott Abrams, who served in top foreignpolicy posts under Bush and President Ronald Reagan; and former CIA director James Woolsey, a hawkish Democrat. He framed his worldview as one that spares no effort in defending American national security but limits adventurism abroad.

The central touchstone for U.S. foreign policy should be defending the vital national security interests of the United States, he said. He calledweakness onthat obligation "the most central failing" of the foreign policies of President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

In his brief Senate career, Cruz has sometimes sided with libertarians such asPaul on big national security issues, as when he opposed Obamas request for authorization to attack Syria afterBashar al-Assads alleged use of chemical weapons (Obama later withdrew that request). ButCruz has also sided withthe hawksinopposing Obamas nuclear negotiations with Iran and pushing for more sanctionson the Tehran regime.

I believe both of those positions areconsistent because both are driven by national security interests, Cruz told me. There are a range of views within the Republican Party, but there is an overwhelming consensus that the Obama-Clinton foreign policy is a manifest disaster, that leading from behind does not work.

Cruz reconciles his advocacy for American power with his aversion to using military force by trumpeting democracy promotion and human-rights advocacy. In the Senate, he has taken up the causes of individual human rights activists such as Mariem Ibrahim, the Sudanese Christian woman who was sentenced to death for her faith and later released.

It is inexplicable and indefensible that this president will almost never speak out for dissidents, Cruz said. I dont believe that shining light and speaking truth is soft power, it's often far more effective than dropping bombs.

Cruz wants the U.S.to publicly confront the Iranian regime for its treatment of its own citizens, and as president he would lend support to human rights and democracy movements around the world, although not through the use of the U.S. armed forces.

As forthe conflictsin the Middle East, Cruz said he doesnt necessarily want the U.S.to take a side. Like many Republicans (and apparently David Petraeus), he sees Iran asthe major threat to U.S. security.

As serious a threat as ISIS presents, the threat from Iran is qualitatively greater. And the Obama administration has it backwards, they are trying to use ISIS to weaken our stance against Iran, he said. The growing potency of ISIS should be used to put even greater pressure on Iran.

Cruz doesnt think the U.S. should risk livessorting out the conflictbetween Sunni and Shiite Muslims.It is the height of hubris and ignorance to think that after 1,500 years of sectarian civil war that the U.S. can come in and convince Sunnis and Shiites to put down their arms and embrace, he said.

Cruz insistedthat Obamas Syria policy has been an incoherent mess, but he doesnt advocate more support for the Syrian rebels or the use of U.S. power to help remove the regime. He said Assad is a monster, but that if the rebels won and extremists came to power, that could be worse for Americas national security.

In the rare cases where the U.S. must use force, Cruz said, it should be used sparingly and only for a limited mission: We should not engage in long-term nation building.

On defense spending, Cruz tries to bridge the divide between the defense hawks and the budget hawks by decrying the sequestration under the2011 Budget Control Act while also calling for reforms in Pentagon spending and a crackdown on waste, fraud and abuse.

Overall, expect Cruz to focus his foreign policy criticism on what he sees asHillary Clinton's reticence to take tough internationalstands.The Obama administration negotiates a potentially catastrophic Iran deal, where is Hillary Clinton? Utterly silent. If she desires to be commander in chief, now is the time to stand up and speak, he said. I understand theres political risk in her party to saying anything out loud. But in a time of great challenges, leadership matters.

Cruz is not the first Tea Party-friendly candidate to strike a hawkish tone:Sarah Palin tried to walk that line after her failed vice presidency bid in 2008. Cruz can make a case for the policies. The question is whetherhawkish and libertarian Republicans will sign on.

To contact the author on this story: Josh Rogin at joshrogin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor on this story: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net

Source: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-23/ted-cruz-tea-party-hawk

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