Reporting from Cleveland — With his refusal to endorse Donald Trump at Trump’s own Republican convention, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday fired the freshest shots yet in a war to define the party. It is one that will persist through November and beyond, regardless of whether Trump wins the White House.
Cruz’s provocative advice that voters follow their conscience -- implicitly saying they were free not to follow their partisan allegiance — was an astonishing turn in what had been, to that point, a convention that was muddled in its message.
It was also a continuation of a years-long battle to determine how to define Republican and conservative at a time when the nation’s demographic changes are moving voters further from the party’s current moorings. That fight has been building in fits and starts since the departure from office of President Reagan.
Trump certainly has demonstrated the strength of his candidacy here, officially winning the nomination on Tuesday night. His speech to the delegates on Thursday looms as a huge moment for him and for the party he wants to lead. For now, however, his efforts to portray the Republican Party as unified have been sundered.
Cruz’s speech had the feel of Ronald Reagan’s famous 1964 address, “A Time for Choosing,” delivered in late October on behalf of Republican nominee Barry Goldwater. As a document laying out Reagan’s political philosophy, it served as the demarcation between the party’s past and future, and it helped lead to his win as California governor two years later.
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Even before the speech, Cruz had traveled around Cleveland as if holding a parallel convention, meeting with delegates who had supported his unsuccessful candidacy. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the third of the final three candidates in the race, did the same, both men essentially questioning the legitimacy of Trump’s standing. Kasich, the home state governor, refused even to attend the convention.
Discontent was evident too in those missing from the convention in protest of Trump’s nomination, a list that included senators, legislators and party donors.
If Cruz represented a defiant stand for one army of dissidents, the other side of the GOP war was also in attendance Wednesday. Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, delivered a well-crafted speech in defense of Trump’s priorities and his leadership.
Before Cruz’s address, another candidate defeated by Trump argued that the time for unity has come.
“After a long and spirited primary,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said, “the time for fighting each other is over.”
But many powerful forces are pushing Republicans toward disunity.
Trump is a divisive figure, distant from many Republicans in policies and repugnant to others because of his rhetoric. And there is also the matter of ambition: Several Republicans, including Cruz and Rubio, saw themselves as the future of the Republican Party before they were dispatched by Trump. Losing did not dampen their desires.
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Balloons drop at the end of the the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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With their families behind them, Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump and Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence are cheered on by delegates at the close of the final day of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Delegates celebrate at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Donald Trump and his wife Melania at the close of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Donald Trump looks out across the crowd of delegates during the final night of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last summer. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Donald Trump speaks during the final day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Donald Trump address on the final night of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump takes the stage after being introduced by his daughter Ivanka Trump during the final day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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Ivanka Trump speaks during the final night of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Ivanka Trump takes the stage during the final day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Tom Barrack, former Deputy Interior Undersecretary in the Reagan administration, and CEO of Colony Capital, delivers a speech on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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California delegates cheer during the final day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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On the final night of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, members of the Texas delegation enjoy the music.
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Former NFL star Fran Tarkington speaks during the final day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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On the final night of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, the view from up high as the singing of the national anthem is completed.
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Six-year-old Heavenly Joy sings America the Beautiful in the Quicken Loans Arena on the final day of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Indiana delegate William Springer sports a GOP elephant hat on the convention floor during the final day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump appears on stage with his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Mike Pence and family at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Vice presidential hopeful Mike Pence delivers a speech on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich addresses delagates during third day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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Eric Trump talks about his father, Donald, at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump arrives at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Wednesday night.
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump arrives at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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A woman yells at Sen. Ted Cruz, asking him to endorse Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Sen. Ted Cruz addresses the Republican National Convention on Wednesday in Cleveland. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on stage.
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Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin.
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Darrell Scott, senior pastor of New Spirit Revival Center Ministries, speaks to the convention crowd.
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Kentucky state Sen. Ralph Alvarado Jr. during his address.
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Eileen Collins, retired astronaut, greets the crowd at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Alabama and Oklahoma delegates enjoy the music during the opening of the third day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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A news anchor reports from the floor of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks on the third day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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Laura Ingraham, radio host, takes the stage at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Delegates watch a video titled, “The Donald I Know,” during the third day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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West Virginia delegates during the Pledge of Allegiance during the third day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, flies into Cleveland for a rally at the Great Lakes Science Center.
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Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump, who arrived by Helicopter at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland Wednesday morning, greets supports for a rally with his family and Vice Presidential Nominee Mike Pence and his family. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Donald Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, arrive at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland.
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Donald Trump Jr. on stage in Cleveland.
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Delegates shout “Guilty” in response to Governor Chris Christi’s indictment of Hillary Clinton.
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivers his remarks.
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A protester is surrounded and silenced by Trump supporters inside the convention.
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Kim Davis and the California delegation celebrate Donald Trump’s nomination.
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Donald Trump Jr.’s image appears on screens above Quicken Loans Arena as he addresses the convention.
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Ben Carson speaks at the Republican National Convention.
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Tiffany Trump speaks.
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House Speaker Paul D. Ryan acknowledges his home state of Wisconsin on stage in Cleveland.
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House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield addresses fellow Republicans in the convention hall.
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California delegate Kim Davis cheers.
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Donald Trump Jr., left, celebrates with Eric Trump and other family members during the roll call that made their father the Republican presidential nominee.
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From left, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump on the convention floor. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Delegates from Washington state.
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A delegate celebrates.
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House Speaker Paul D. Ryan recognizes the delegation from his home state of Wisconsin.
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Pennsylvania delegate Marianne Stearns with a Donald Trump doll. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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On Tuesday, the second day of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump’s children bow their heads during the evening prayer. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Harmeet Dhillon, a California Sikh and a Republican national committee member, delivers the opening invocation on day two of the GOP convention.
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On the first night of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump introduced his wife, Melania Trump, before she addressed the delegates.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with his wife, Melania Trump, at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
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On the first night of the Republican National Convention, Melania Trump enters the stage before speaking.
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On the first night of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump introduced his wife, Melania Trump, before she addressed the delegates.
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On the first night of the Republican National Convention, Melania Trump asks for the delegates to pay tribule to former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole.
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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
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Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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On the first night of the Republican National Convention, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry addresses delegates.
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie enters the arena.
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Delegates from Texas wave their hats in response to veterans.
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Delegates stand during the Pledge of Allegiance.
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Newt Gingrich during the Pledge of Allegiance.
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Former Sen. Bob Dole attends the convention.
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On the floor of the arena.
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Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) listens to a voice vote on the adoption of the rules.
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California delegate Luis Buhler, center, joins delegates in singing the national anthem during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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A Florida delegate holds a sign on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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California delegate Shari Clark of Stanton sports Converse high tops with a Trump theme on the floor Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette speaks during the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus directs delegates to conferences during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Barbara Finger from Oconto, Wis., wears a cheesehead hat during first day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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Delegates bow their heads in prayer as the Republican National Convention gets underway in Cleveland.
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An agent guards the stairs up to the stage during the first day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
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Henry Allen, a Florida delegate to Republican National Convention walks around the convention floor with a sign at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) As profoundly, they are navigating changes in the party’s direction at a time of huge voter tumult, when experience and other characteristics that used to matter are often spurned.
Even outside of the presidential campaign, Republicans have been factionalized and feuding for decades, since Reagan’s unifying tenure ended in 1989.
His successor, George Herbert Walker Bush, was not a Western conservative but one of the last vestiges of a now nearly extinct group, the more moderate Northeastern Republican. He lost after one term, in some part because of a revolt by conservatives angry after he broke his vow not to raise taxes.
Generally, Republicans have been split according to their choice of primary issues: social conservatives, whose ranks have swelled with the growing evangelical vote, interested in issues like abortion and gay marriage, as well as support for Israel; fiscal conservatives, worried about taxes and economic policy; and national security conservatives, concerned about military strength and international domination.
The internal battling was more muted when Republicans held the White House under George W. Bush –although conservatives rose to quash his effort to win reform of the immigration system. It has been in high fervor since.
After the 2012 election, Republican leaders implored this year’s band of candidates to broaden their views and try to attract women, younger voters and minority Americans, without whose support the party would wither.
But the 2016 election has done nothing to clarify what the party’s conservatism means. Voters spurned their traditional political silos and arrayed themselves around the outsider-insider axis. They went for a showman candidate whose views alarmed all three components of the nation’s conservative movement.
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Social conservatives were put off by Trump’s past support for abortion rights and less-than-rigid opposition to gay marriage and LGBT protections. Fiscal conservatives wailed that his limited proposals—tax cuts combined with huge infrastructure spending and opposition to Social Security cuts—were unsustainable. Defense conservatives gasped at the range of his foreign policy — sometimes interventionist and at others isolationist.
But he won the nomination on celebrity, audacity, appeals to worried white blue-collar voters and castigations of Latinos, Muslims and other groups.
The lines of the future Republican Party will not fully be developed until Trump’s fate has been determined. If he wins and works to push the goals of all sides of the party, he will mute some of the dismay and discussion. Already, in his handling of the party platform and his selection of Pence as his running mate, Trump has demonstrated flexibility and some ability to placate warring factions.
If he loses, however, the night of the general election will mark the beginning of a full-scale battle over the party’s fate and the fate of many of the would-be candidates inside and outside this convention’s walls.
cathleen.decker@latimes.com
Twitter: @cathleendecker
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