Cruz was yesterday, Trump tomorrow
CLEVELAND — Each day at a national political convention is like a new chapter in a book; the new builds upon the old, but the words of the past are quickly forgotten.
As the balloons fell and the final gavel descended at the Republican National Convention, the drama of Wednesday’s Ted Cruz mutiny was subsumed in the words of Donald Trump’s safety, security and America First speech.
For Nevada’s delegates to the convention, unifying behind Trump was an easy call.
“This will catapult a lot of ‘Never Trump’ votes into pro-Trump votes,” said Amy Tarkanian, a former state party chairwoman who had to deal with her own intra-party fights between conservatives and liberals. Tarkanian said Cruz should have simply skipped the convention, like Carly Fiorina or home-state Gov. John Kasich of Ohio. “If I were Ted Cruz, I wouldn’t have shown up,” she said.
State Controller Ron Knecht — known as a principled conservative himself — said it was time to move beyond the nomination fight and move on to the general election. “I was very disappointed (in Cruz). There’s no point in not getting behind the nominee,” said Knecht. “Politics is a game of addition, not subtraction.”
Or maybe it’s long division — asked whether Republicans would emerge unified from the convention because they dislike Hillary Clinton or because they’ve begun to warm to Trump, most members of Nevada’s delegation answered, “both.”
“It’s always, what’s the choice, right?” said Patty Cafferata, a former Cruz supporter who is now firmly in Trump’s camp.
One operative noted the dynamics at play could favor Trump: Cruz supporters aren’t very likely going to vote for Clinton, preferring a conservative alternative. But disaffected supporters of Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s liberal vanquished rival, might not vote for her, either. Even if they stay home or vote third-party, those are votes that won’t accrue to Clinton.
Still, not everyone was forgiving of Cruz. “He put his bruised ego before his country,” said one operative.
At a luncheon in a muggy dining room at the Bahama Breeze restaurant, where Nevada delegates gathered to hear luminaries such as Dr. Ben Carson during convention week, Nevada Republicans agreed on one thing, regardless of their original candidate preference: they would unify behind Trump.
“We’re Republicans,” Cafferata said. “That’s the jersey we’re wearing. We stick with our guy.”
On Thursday, their guy gave them something to get behind: a speech filled with promises of law and order, an end to killings of police officers and innocent victims of terrorism, immigration reform (with a big wall on the southern border) and reforming a corrupt, rigged system owned by special interests. Clinton, Trump said, was part of that rigged system, and would never repair it.
“I am your voice,” Trump declared, sending the entire, packed floor of the Quicken Loans arena into a frenzy. The Cruz boos that had filled the arena to its rafters yesterday were forgotten, as delegates turned the page and looked to a new chapter.
Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.
