Movement conservative leader Richard Viguerie, a long-time supporter of Ted Cruz, equated the Texas Senator’s refusal to honor his pledge to support the Republican nominee Donald Trump to a “political suicide.”

In an article titled “Ted Cruz Committed Political Suicide On National TV,” Viguerie wrote at his ConservativeHQ website:

The much anticipated speech Ted Cruz delivered to the Republican National Convention last night was a soaring anthem to liberty that lacked but one thing to make it, and Ted Cruz, great; an endorsement of the Trump – Pence ticket.

Failing to endorse the Trump – Pence ticket last night was not good for Ted Cruz, conservatives, Republicans, and America.

And most importantly for those of us who endorsed Ted Cruz and worked for him in the Republican primaries, he betrayed the trust we gave him that he was a bigger man than his attackers and that there was a cause greater than self in the hard-fought battles of the Republican primaries.

And I think it was this sense that Ted Cruz did not live up to his own rhetoric that stung his former supporters and emboldened his detractors the most….

The reaction to Cruz’s speech that came in to me and to CHQ was white hot, quick and devastating to Cruz’s personal and political future. Here are just a few of the comments from prominent conservatives who are attending the Republican National Convention with me and from other individuals who attended a private meeting before which Senator Cruz spoke just a few days ago:

I’m ashamed that I voted for Ted Cruz in the Massachusetts’ Republican Primary. I thought Ted Cruz was a man of integrity. Tonight he proved — beyond a shadow of a doubt — that he isn’t. He made a solemn pledge to support the Republican nominee. And he broke that crucial promise. I thought Ted Cruz was a patriot. Tonight, he proved he isn’t. However bitter and angry he is at Donald Trump, he knows that Trump is the only person standing between Hillary Clinton (a liar, a fraud, a thief and a traitor) and the presidency. And yet – after meticulously laying out the case against another 4 to 8 years of leftist tyranny — he refused to endorse the one man who can put an end to our long national nightmare. Cruz wasn’t driven by principle, but by ego. He can’t accept the fact that the party chose Trump over him. Ted Cruz made the worst mistake of his political career. Millions of us will never forget or forgive his betrayal. He will never be his party’s nominee for president. He will never hold the highest office in the land. Pence crushed Cruz. Newt crushed Cruz. Ted Cruz looks like a sore loser. He does not look Reaganesque at all. Ted Cruz is a very small man.

After failing to endorse the Trump – Pence ticket last night, in eyes of most conservatives with whom I spoke, Ted Cruz became just another self-centered politician who walked back on a promise, failed to live up to his own Biblical standards and, when the battle raged the fiercest, put his own petty hurts before the future of his country and the conservative cause.