In a party full of cowards, Ted Cruz stood apart

When Trump first ran for the presidency he claimed the Republican Party was nothing but a bunch of spineless weasels who didn’t have the mettle to fight. Trump then won the nomination and most of the Republican establishment proved his contention true by backing a candidate whose worldview directly conflicted with their own stated beliefs.

There were those, like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, who reluctantly offered unconvincing endorsements to avert a civil war. Let’s just say this is the sort of risk aversion that falls well within the normal parameters of politically expedient behavior — the kind we all supposedly hate.

Then there were those who had no shame. Example: Then-candidate Rick Perry once gave a speech entitled, “Defending conservatism against the cancer of Trumpism.” Cancer. Now, if you want to read the text of his speech, you won’t be able to find it on Perry’s website. It’s been removed. And the man who once said Trumpism was “a toxic mix of demagoguery and mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued,” was soon angling for the veep spot and promised that he would help Trump in “a myriad ways.”