Allahpundit:
I predicted in July that a Cruz cave was inevitable and that he’d do it in a press release in October. In reality he did it in a Facebook post on September 23rd. My bad.
Literally nothing in this statement with the small exception of Trump’s new position on ICANN couldn’t have been said onstage at the convention in Cleveland. But Cruz made two calculations at the time: One was that the backlash to him if he withheld his endorsement wouldn’t be severe, the other was that Trump would be clobbered by Clinton this fall. If both of those bets came through, he’d be rewarded as the man who saw a debacle coming and stood on principle. But he was wrong on both counts, just like he was grossly wrong in betting earlier this year that there enough true conservatives in the Republican base to hand him a victory over Trump in the primaries. Everyone, from his donors to the party establishment to the tea party he champions, chose Trump over him when they were made to choose. He could either risk his career by continuing to hold out or he could go along with them now, knowing that if he went on resisting and Trump lost a close election in November, his refusal to endorse would be cited by angry Republicans as a key factor in the defeat. (Which would be stupid and untrue, but oh well.) He’d be one of the biggest scapegoats for Trumpers in the aftermath. So Ted Cruz, “man of principle,” caved.
If he wanted to be the lesser-of-two-evils guy, he could have been that in May. If he wanted to be the man of principle, he could have been that too. And he was, for a few months. Trying to be both now makes him an opportunistic joke.
In Cleveland, I urged voters, “please, don’t stay home in November. Stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket whom you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.”
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.
I’ve made this decision for two reasons. First, last year, I promised to support the Republican nominee. And I intend to keep my word.
Second, even though I have had areas of significant disagreement with our nominee, by any measure Hillary Clinton is wholly unacceptable — that’s why I have always been #NeverHillary.
Six key policy differences inform my decision.
Read the statement for his reasoning. He has one very good argument (the Supreme Court) and one good one (energy) — both of which, again, were available to him as justifications in July. For some reason, they weren’t compelling enough at the time. Cruz doesn’t explain what changed. The best he can do to justify his evolution is to mention (as expected) Mike Lee’s inclusion on the list of SCOTUS candidates Trump released this morning, even though no one believes Trump will reward a fierce critic of his like Lee with an appointment. In fact, Trump’s original list of SCOTUS candidates was released in May, months before the convention, and was widely praised even by Trump’s conservative critics for the caliber of judges it featured. If Cruz was really worried about Trump appointing Scalia types, that list, not this morning, could have been cited in Cleveland.
His policy reasoning elsewhere is weak. Trump will be better than Clinton on health care, he says. Maybe, maybe not: Trump has talked up single-payer before and was slobbering over Medicaid just days ago, and unlike Hillary, Trump might get a Republican Congress to go along with all of that. Trump will be better on national security, Cruz insists. In some ways, absolutely; in other ways, like having a Putinist in command of the U.S. armed forces, not so much. Trump will be better on immigration, though, at least, Cruz continues. That’s true enough — it’d be hard to be worse than Hillary — but Trump has been pushing some variation of touchback amnesty for months and even now won’t rule out legalization for illegals. A few weeks ago, during his “softening” period, he was making sympathetic noises about illegals with families who’ve been here for years. Who knows what he’ll do once he’s in office? It’ll be better than Clinton, sure, but Ted Cruz has been selling himself for years now as the guy who will not accept “what we’re doing is slightly better than what the Democrats are doing” excuses from the Republican establishment. Bold colors, not pale pastels — that’s the Cruz motto. Or was, until now, when he ends up exactly where Rush Limbaugh was in defending Trump’s maternity-leave proposal: So long as Trump’s proposals can be defended as somewhat more right-wing than what Clinton would give us, that’s conservative enough. If that’s the guy Cruz is now, he’d better never open his mouth to criticize Mitch McConnell again.