The Register's Editorial

Vanquished presidential candidate Ted Cruz left the stage at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night amidst a chorus of jeers and booing.

His crime? He encouraged the assembled multitude to “vote your conscience” and to “vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.”

Cruz would have lost whatever credibility he once had with voters if he had fallen in line and endorsed the man he has called “utterly amoral” and “a serial philanderer.”

But the crowd’s forceful rejection of the “vote your conscience” philosophy is interesting. Donald Trump’s supporters claim to be fed up with candidates who toe the party line and do the bidding of the party establishment. They say they want an independent thinker, one who “tells it like it is” and is willing to stand up to party leaders.

So you’d think they’d respect a candidate who encourages the voters themselves to follow their conscience, even if it means rejecting the GOP-approved platform or candidate. But, no, at this point in the game, Trump supporters now seem to value conformity and allegiance to the nominee above all else.

Wednesday night’s uproar confirmed the uncomfortable truth in what Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, brazenly declared on television earlier in the day when he implied the Republican Party, as we know it, no longer exists. “This is the Trump Party,” he said, as if that was something to be celebrated.

It’s astounding that Manafort would publicly make such a claim, but the evidence demonstrates he’s entirely correct. Policy, principles and the platform are irrelevant. For better or worse, the Grand Old Party now exists to serve the interests of one individual — Donald Trump.