Sarah Palin, one of Donald Trump's most vocal supporters, planted a verbal haymaker on Ted Cruz Thursday morning, calling the Texas senator's refusal to back the billionaire real-estate tycoon for president as "career-ending."
In a statement to
Breitbart News, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice-presidential running mate of Sen. John McCain, said:
"Turns out Ted Cruz's partner, Carly Fiorina, had a more graceful exit from the political stage than he had. Cruz's broken pledge to support the will of the people tonight was one of those career-ending 'read my lips' moments.
"I guarantee American voters took notice and felt more unsettling confirmation as to why we don't much like typical politicians because they campaign one way, but act out another way.
"That kind of political status quo has got to go because it got us into the mess we're in with America's bankrupt budgets and ramped up security threats."
Palin added that it was routine for politicians to "disbelieve their word is their bond," which Cruz by "breaking his promise" to endorse his party's nominee.
She said as Cruz — who only mentioned Trump by name once during his address — was likely borrowing a phrase from Hillary Clinton, thinking to himself "at this point, what difference does it make?"
"We've been burned so horribly by that attitude that voters won't reward politicians pulling that 'what difference does it make' stunt again. Politicians will see — it makes all the difference in the world to us," Palin said.
Cruz and his wife Heidi departed the floor of the Republican National to choruses of boos and insults following his speech Wednesday night. But on Thursday, Cruz, who had been the last Republican standing against Trump before dropping out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination, was on the defensive.
Cruz insisted that he didn't say a "single negative word" about Trump, and he doesn't intend to.
He added that he is "not in the habit of endorsing" a candidate who has attacked his wife and his family.
That was an apparent reference to Trump's posting of an unflattering photo of Heidi next to a glamorous shot of Melania Trump.
Cruz has also bristled over Trump's suggestion that his father Rafael Cruz has a connection to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In defending his speech, Cruz said Trump's campaign knew what he was going to say beforehand.
"They saw my speech several hours before I gave it. They knew exactly what I was going to say," Cruz told a group of Texas delegates. "I believe they wanted me to speak because they believed it would encourage people to come out and vote. If they didn't, I was perfectly happy to get on plane and go home."
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