Despite Endorsement, Runner-Up Appears to Have Major Reservations About GOP NomineeÂ
Ted Cruz may have finally endorsed Donald Trump last week, but the Tea Party senator from Texas apparently still has some doubts about whether the GOP nominee is fit to be president.Â
After declining to endorse Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, the GOP primary runner-up posted an op-ed on Facebook on Friday explaining why he’s now throwing his support behind his former foe.Â
However, when asked about the endorsement Saturday, Cruz was less than enthusiastic.Â
In an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, moderator Evan Smith asked Cruz, “Do you consider Donald Trump to be fit to be president?”
“I think we have one of two choices,” Cruz responded, referring to Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.Â
“That’s not the question I asked you, though,” Smith said.Â
“I think it’s fair to say that there’s not another candidate in the field who tried harder, who left more on the field, in an effort to defeat Donald, than I did,” Cruz said. “We didn’t succeed, and at the end of the day, I have to respect the Democratic process, and the Democratic process has given us effectively a binary choice.”Â
“But you could say the words, ‘He is fit to be president,’ if you chose to, right?” Smith said.Â
“You’re doing such a fine job saying that,” Cruz responded.Â
(Watch the exchange at the 6:00 mark in the video above)
Cruz went on to reiterate the reasoning laid out in his op-ed, including a desire to uphold his pledge to support the GOP nominee no matter what and Trump’s new list of 21 potential Supreme Court nominees, whom Cruz believes are “in the mold of [Antonin] Scalia.”Â
Trump’s expanded list of potential Supreme Court nominees now includes Cruz’s staunch ally in the Senate, Utah Tea Partier Mike Lee. However, Lee effectively rejected the would-be Supreme Court nomination on Friday. In fact, Lee has not even endorsed Trump himself, saying in May that the GOP nominee “scares me to death.”Â