And to those listening, please, don't stay home in November. Stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution. - U.S. Senator Ted Cruz
Following days of discord, disunity, and strife in the halls of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, former presidential candidate and conservative bomb thrower Ted Cruz lobbed a grenade at GOP attempts to rally the party faithful behind nominee Donald Trump in a fiery speech delivered on national television Wednesday evening.
At first congratulating his bitter rival on securing the GOP nomination, Cruz carefully built a speech structured on his typical flair of conservative ideological bedrocks, before pulling the rug out from Trump in a brazen display of principled disloyalty when Cruz urged conservatives to "vote your conscience" just days after delegates had been denied that very option.
Delegates roared in anger at Cruz, as thousands of attendees showered him with boos and chants for the Senator to endorse Trump. Cruz refused and finished his remarks as Trump entered the arena.
Although later speakers tried to downplay the meaning of Cruz's "Moment of Conscience" speech, the intention of his remarks were known to everyone: conservative voters don't have to support the Trump candidacy if it violates their conscience, which throws a significant wrench into the convention's poorly executed attempts to unify the party.
It will likely be said years from now that Cruz's remarks signified the beginning of the end for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, but it just might also be the start of the Texan's second bid for the highest office in the land.
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