Ted Cruz: Donald Trump may, indeed, be a “pathological liar,” as Cruz once claimed but now he’s Cruz’s pathological liar. Credit: Getty Images

Donald Trump is a "pathological liar" who "doesn't know the difference between truth and lies." Trump "lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth." Trump is "utterly amoral" and "will betray his supporters on every issue."

Remember the great orator who heaped such calumny upon The Donald? It wasn't Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders or President Barack Obama. It was Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, shortly after Trump both accused Cruz's father of being complicit in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and mocked Cruz's wife's looks.

That also would be the same Ted Cruz who, on Thursday of this week, agreed to speak at the Republican convention in Cleveland later this month. The very convention that will in all likelihood nominate Donald Trump. (As Business Insider's Josh Barro tweeted, "Ted Cruz did draw the line at Trump's demand that Heidi wear a paper bag over her head during the convention.")

Cruz's agreement to be in Cleveland to support Trump's coronation is exactly the reason people hate politicians. Sure, the image of the duplicitous politician is burned in the American psyche — citizens have accused elected representatives of being oleaginous weasels as long as they've been casting ballots. But watching conservative politicians capitulate to Trump's strong-arm tactics has quickly turned the knob to "11."

Even the GOP's once-most promising members have gotten in on the act. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called Trump a "narcissist," and an "egomaniacal madman" who had no principles — months later, Jindal endorsed Trump. Sen. Marco Rubio was once Trump's harshest critic, at one point saying Trump shouldn't be given access to the nation's nuclear codes. In May, Rubio endorsed Trump. (One wonders how we can trust Trump with the nation's nuclear football when we couldn't even trust him with the USFL.)

But in politics, we are once again finding out that almost all deeply held positions are situational. Politicians are willing to take courageous stands right up until the moment the usefulness of those beliefs expire.

Yet there is one politician who refuses to alter his positions for political expediency. And that is likely why he is the presumptive Republican nominee. Trump is the flip side of the weak-of-conscience opponents he defenestrated during the GOP primary; He will cling to his positions, no matter how obnoxious or detrimental.

And that is why it made sense for voters to pick a reality television star as a major party nominee; for many Americans, politics is now simply a television show that bears little resemblance to their own lives. They see backstabbing, screaming, narcissism and scheming, while nothing of substance ever gets done. Call this show "The Real House Members of Washington, D.C."

Much of the media coverage of the presidential race foments this idea of the whole thing as an empty spectacle. Right now, CNN is running a commercial that literally looks exactly like a movie trailer, promising "a race like no other" — as if that in and of itself were a selling point. If one of the candidates gave stump speeches while operating a ventriloquist dummy, it would certainly be a race like no other, but not in any way that was particularly edifying.

(Further feeding the politics-as-entertainment machine this week was Eric Trump, who suggested his sister Ivanka would be a terrific vice president because "she's got the beautiful looks." Evidently he's forgotten Dick Cheney's raw sexuality.)

So there in Cleveland will be a handful of Trump's vanquished foes, laying down to a candidate that bullied and intimidated them into submission. They will be there putting their party in front of their dignity, hoping to maintain in good standing with the party for future elections. It would no doubt serve members of the party of the elephant well to have much longer memories.

Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email cschneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM