Ted Cruz unlikely to endorse Trump

Trail Blazer Blog/DMN:
Despite being a leader in the Republican Party, getting a chance to be a gracious loser or improving the prospects of beating Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz is unlikely to endorse Donald Trump for president — ever.

In previous columns, I’ve written about how GOP leaders are squandering political capital and time pouting about Trump. Top Republicans such as House Speaker Paul Ryan are helping to divide the party by withholding endorsements from Trump, who needs a united front to beat Clinton in November.

But for Cruz, avoiding a formal endorsement of his rival makes sense, even if it defies the party principle of fighting it out in the primary but supporting the winner in the general election.

Here’s why.

Cruz doesn’t want to become a phony, particularly with the conservative base he’s nurtured since his stunning 2012 Senate victory.

With his respectable showing in the presidential race, Cruz is now the leader of the staunch conservative movement, and part of the lineage that includes Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. He badly wanted to carry that mantle in the 2016 race for the White House. He brashly said Republicans had not nominated a true conservative for president since Reagan in 1980.

Cruz and many of his supporters don’t consider Trump a conservative but a shyster looking to take advantage of angry, frustrated voters.

After misguided praise in the early part of the primary season, Cruz tried to unravel Trump by pointing out his past support of Democrats like Bill and Hillary Clinton and his previous liberal stances on issues ranging from spending to abortion.
...
Most of the conservatives who have endorsed Trump do not have presidential ambitions.  Cruz will continue to make his case to voters from the Senate for the next four years unburdened by any support for Trump with no obligation to defend some of the positions taken by Trump.

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