PHOTO: Ted Cruz delivers his speech on Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention
At the start of this week, we advised watching four aspects of the Republican National Convention to assess Donald Trump’s chances of winning the Presidency: the speakers, the platform, the speech of Vice Presidential pick Mike Pence, and the delegates.
See US Analysis: Beyond The Donald — 4 Things to Watch at the Republican Convention
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In 21 minutes on Wednesday night, Senator Ted Cruz brought together all four. Doing so, the runner-up to Trump in the primaries cast glaring light, to a loud chorus of boos, on the problems both for The Donald and the GOP.
Cruz’s refusal to endorse Trump — effectively dismissing this year’s nominee and pointing to himself as the man for the Presidency in 2020 — is just the beginning of the story. He condemned Pence’s moment to oblivion and exposed the rift between many Republicans and Trump. And beyond that, he showed up the GOP as a badly-divided party which might hold on to a Congressional majority but will struggle to advance its agenda long after November’s elections.
I spoke to both BBC Radio Foyle and Monocle 24 on Thursday about the fall-out.
