Ted Cruz knocks the wheels off the RNC's unity parade float, Donald Trump gloats
You could make a coherent argument that the 2016 Republican National Convention is the biggest disaster of a convention since the Democrats' in 1968. The thing about 2016, though, is that it's utter chaos because of unforced errors. It's a clusterfuck because the Trump campaign has made it so.
The introduction of the candidate's wife, Melania, to the nation was supposed to be the big highlight of day one. We all know what happened to that! The second day of the convention was completely overshadowed by Melania's plagiarizing Michelle Obama and the crazy contradictory spinning of the Trump campaign and various Republicans. That should have been a one day story, but Trump just couldn't let it be and the story dominated Wednesday as well, overshadowing entirely Trump's official nomination Tuesday night.
Then Wednesday night was supposed to be Mike Pence night, the introduction of the vice president and the triumphant ticket, and the kissing of the Trump ring by his vanquished opponents. Yeah. Then came Ted Cruz. We all know what happened there. Not only did Cruz give what will surely be his 2020 stump speech, he did not endorse Trump, and worse, he told the delegates "vote your conscience." He not only told his supporters to not give in and unify, he told them not to vote for Trump.
Two stories immediately emerged: one that Cruz ratfucked the RNC by giving them a different speech than what he delivered. The other story being that the Trump campaign knew Wednesday morning Cruz wouldn't endorse and orchestrated the backlash on the floor against him. The second story is more likely the way it happened, with Trump Thursday morning tweeting, of course "Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn't honor the pledge! I saw his speech two hours early but let him speak anyway. No big deal!"
Did Trump allow it to happen on purpose so he could create the most drama? Or was it just one more fuck up by a highly undisciplined candidate and campaign? Whether they saw the speech ahead of time or not, they had to know that Cruz was going to be up to something in his speech. I mean, it's Ted Cruz! They could have put him on the stage in some random, not primetime slot. They could have forced him to do the kind of hostage video as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Weenie). But no, they create yet another humungous diversion, another negative and disastrous storyline to dominate Thursday. Donald Trump's coronation day.
Huffington Post's Sam Stein says this can't be the convention Donald Trump wanted. I'd argue that it's exactly the convention he wanted, that he wanted a dramatic convention and is perfectly fine with how it's going. Because Trump doesn't care about unity, he doesn't care about how the Republican party comes out looking after this. He cares about being the center of attention. Like he said when he reignited the Melania mess, "all press is good press!"
It's making for a popcorn-worthy convention, but it'd be a disastrous way to run a country.