The end of Ted Cruz's speech was amazing, not because he said anything amazing, but because the crowd brown-shirted him off the stage when they realized he had no intention of endorsing Donald Trump for President.
The speech itself was the usual Cruz smarmfest, but about three minutes before the end, and just after he said to "build the wall," the crowd got very, very restless, and started shouting, "Endorse Trump!" at him over and over again.
He acknowledged the "New York delegation" and then continued on with his speech, but the crowd was having none of it. They were lit up and angry. They started shouting "Endorse Trump!" over and over, and that devolved into "We Want Trump!"
Meanwhile, on the convention floor:
HEIDI CRUZ escorted out by security as crowd gets angry at Cruz for his speech. One Trump supporter shouting "Goldman Sachs!" at her
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 21, 2016
Angry Ken Cuccinelli escorting Heidi Cruz out as Trump supporters yell at her pic.twitter.com/G6USuhoSx2
— Graham Moomaw (@gmoomaw) July 21, 2016
Other reactions:
This is a hot mess. #TedCruz walked off the stage by telling the crowd "vote your conscience." And the crowd went stir crazy. Trump that.
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) July 21, 2016
SOURCE: The Trump camp knew this morning Cruz would not endorse and told Cruz's camp they'd orchestrate booing if he refused.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 21, 2016
And Cruz himself:
To those listening, please don't stay home in November. If you love our country, stand and speak and vote your conscience #RNCinCLE
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 21, 2016
To those who thought Cruz would go quietly, guess again. The best part: No one will be talking about anything but Ted Cruz tomorrow. Nothing else will matter.
Update:
Trumpkin weighs in:
Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn't honor the pledge! I saw his speech two hours early but let him speak anyway. No big deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2016
Way to close that deal, Donald.
