The Fair Reason Ted Cruz Will Not Endorse Trump

On Wednesday night, Ted Cruz made headlines not for what he did at the third night of the Republican National Convention, but for what he didn't do: endorse Donald Trump for president. However, on Thursday morning Cruz shared why he won't be endorsing Trump and it made perfect sense. Cruz told supporters, "I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father," and added that he is not Donald Trump's "servile puppy dog." For once, it's hard not to agree with Cruz.

According to Politico, Cruz shared his reason for not endorsing Trump at the RNC while speaking to delegates from Texas on Thursday morning — Cruz, a Texas senator, won the Lone Star State's primary. However, not everyone in the Texas delegation seemed to agree with Cruz's refusal to back Trump. In fact, one audience member told the former GOP presidential candidate to "Get over it," saying, "This is politics!" Cruz stood his ground responding, "This is not politics. I will tell the truth. I will not malign. I will not insult. I will not attack. I will tell the truth. This is not a game. It is not politics. Right and wrong matters." Yeah, it looks like that Trump endorsement is never happening.

However, Politico reported that Cruz did tell the Texas delegation, "What I don’t intend to do is go out and throw rocks at Donald. I don’t intend to criticize him." Clearly Cruz is still trying to position himself as the moral and mature candidate — in opposition to Trump. He even reminded the audience, "In that speech last night I did not say a single negative word about Donald Trump."

Over the past 24 hours Cruz has made quite the show of not endorsing Trump, but does that mean he will not be voting for the GOP's nominee in November, either? Well, Cruz told his audience on Thursday morning, "I am doing what millions of Americans are doing. I'm watching, I'm listening." However, it's not as if Cruz will be casting a ballot for the Democrats in November — according to Politico, the Senator told his supporters, "I can tell you I'm not voting for Hillary." No kidding, Cruz.

Cruz's reasoning for not endorsing Trump makes sense, but it also exemplifies just how far Donald Trump went in attacking his opponents during the 2016 primaries. Sure, political races are often messy, but typically candidates are not so offended that they do not come around and support their former opponent in the end. However, Cruz has reason to still be angry at Trump — the GOP's presidential nominee did more than call Cruz "Lyin' Ted," he also slandered his family.

That being said, it's also likely that Cruz is preparing to run again in 2020 — if Donald Trump looses in November, not only will Cruz have the chance to run for president in four years, he'll also be able to tell Republicans, "I told you so," in regards to Trump.