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Ted Cruz Endorses Donald Trump

by Emily Shire

On Friday, in a significant political turnaround, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz endorsed Donald Trump for president. In a Facebook post, the former Trump rival stated his endorsement in a noticeably less-than-enthusiastic tone: "After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump." The announcement ends one of the most glaring Trump endorsement holdouts.

Of all the Republican enemies Trump has made during his presidential campaign, Cruz was one of the very biggest. During the primaries, Trump stoked rumors that Cruz's father was linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who assassinated John F. Kennedy. Trump also launched attacks against Cruz's wife, Heidi, threatening to "spill the beans" on her and tweeting unflattering photos of her.

In turn, the Texas senator noticeably refused to give Trump his stamp of approval at the Republican National Convention. He ended his speech by advising, "Vote your conscience."

In the Facebook post explaining the change of heart towards Trump, Cruz focused far more on his commitment to making sure Hillary Clinton loses in November than the merits of the Republican presidential nominee.

He specifically cited two reasons for his decision to endorse Trump. "First, last year, I promised to support the Republican nominee. And I intend to keep my word," Cruz wrote. "Second, even though I have had areas of significant disagreement with our nominee, by any measure Hillary Clinton is wholly unacceptable — that’s why I have always been #NeverHillary." You can read the endorsement statement in full below:

As you can tell, to describe Cruz's endorsement of Trump as tepid would be overselling it. He can't even bear to mention Trump's name in the last paragraph.