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2016 Republican National Convention

Ex-Trump rival Ted Cruz gets his GOP convention moment

Rick Jervis
USA TODAY

In the heat of the Republican primary battle, Ted Cruz called Donald Trump a “pathological liar,” “narcissist” and “utterly amoral.”

In turn, Trump tagged Cruz “Lyin’ Ted” and suggested that his father, Rafael Cruz, had a hand in the Kennedy assassination.

Cruz on Wednesday is expected to shelve that bad blood, at least temporarily, and take the stage at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland for one of the most anticipated speeches of the event.

Cruz, runner-up in the Republican primary contest, is one of the highest-profile GOP personalities to speak at the convention, though he has not revealed what he’ll talk about. Observers will be watching closely to see if he offers a direct endorsement of his former foe — which he has withheld since ending his campaign in May — or uses the big stage to advance his own political ambitions and an anticipated second run for the White House in the future.

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“Is this going to be a Ted Cruz saying, ‘Thank you to all my delegates, and by the way, I hate Hillary Clinton’?” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “Or is he going to say, ‘Ladies and gentleman, given the choices, we’re going to have to stand with Donald Trump.’ It will matter.”

Cruz’s speech comes at a time when the Republican Party faces serious chasms between pro- and anti-Trump factions. Former presidents and party stalwarts George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have chosen to skip the Cleveland gathering.

On Monday, a group of delegates attempted to force a roll call vote on the convention rules, leading to shouting matches on the floor of Quicken Loans Arena between Trump detractors and his supporters.

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A ringing endorsement from Cruz could go a long way toward unifying the party, much the way Ronald Reagan threw his support behind rival Gerald Ford in a dramatic turn at the 1976 GOP convention, said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston. Then, Reagan walked over to Ford at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, shook hands with the president and gave a stirring speech supporting his former foe.

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Don’t expect such magnanimity from Cruz on Wednesday, Jones said. By supporting Trump too closely, Cruz risks alienating many of the conservative supporters he gained the past year on the campaign trail, many of whom feel Trump’s stands on issue are not conservative enough, he said.

“Quicken Loans Arena will not be Kemper Arena 40 years later,” Jones said.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump take part in a GOP presidential debate in Coral Gables, Fla., in March.

Jones said Cruz’s motives are likely less tied to supporting Trump and uniting the party and more about remaining relevant to his supporters to take another run at the presidency in 2020 or 2024. Cruz himself has alluded to another presidential run. In an interview with Politico's “Off Message" podcast last week, Cruz evaded questions about whether he would endorse Trump in Cleveland, saying he was “where a great many voters are, which is that I am listening and watching and coming to a decision.”

He then hinted at a future run. “Most wars are not won in a single battle,” he said, adding: “What I’m looking forward to is changing the course this country is on. I don’t know if that happens in this election cycle or not.”

On the floor in Cleveland, GOP advisors and delegates seemed to be talking more about Melania Trump’s speech Monday night and the candidate’s upcoming speech on Thursday than speculating on what Cruz might say, said Hogan Gidley, a Republican strategist attending the convention.

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What Cruz doesn’t say in his Wednesday speech will be just as important as what he does, he said.

“You’re supposed to come out and endorse and you signed a pledge that you would,” Gidley said. “The omission would be glaring.”

When Cruz walks out onto the stage Wednesday, expect a lot of rhetoric attacking Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and a list of personal views on issues, but not a lot of Trump accolades, said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. Bad blood doesn't thin that quickly.

“It’s hard not to see this about his ambition when we certainly know it’s not about supporting Trump,” Henson said.

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