Minutes before Ted Cruz took the stage at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick cornered the senator, huddling with him in a last-ditch effort to coax an endorsement of Donald Trump. It didn’t work.

“A missed opportunity,” Patrick fumed after Cruz's notorious snub. "He makes his own decisions.”


Two months later, amid political troubles home in Texas, unyielding pressure from the Republican establishment in Washington and growing irritation from the conservative grass roots, Cruz reversed course. The senator gave his imprimatur to a man he once called a “pathological liar” and a “bully” during their bitter primary campaign.

After telling voters to “vote your conscience” in July, Cruz said he had plumbed his own.

“If Clinton wins, we know — with 100% certainty — that she would deliver on her left-wing promises, with devastating results for our country. My conscience tells me I must do whatever I can to stop that,” Cruz said on Facebook Friday.

His about-face stunned the political world and supporters who've flocked to his no-compromise conservatism. But so much had changed in the past 60 days that Cruz apparently believed he had no other choice than to bust out of the political box he had built for himself in Ohio.

At the time of his convention speech, there was compelling political logic for the ambitious firebrand to steer clear of Trump. Cruz appears likely to run for president again, and Trump, at the time, looked like was headed toward a blowout loss. Not to mention, Trump had essentially called Cruz's wife unattractive and erroneously linked his father to JFK’s assassination.

Cruz's allies believed if he played it right, he could emerge from the election as one of the last principled conservatives — the final bulwark against a candidate who violated many of the values conservatives hold dear.

But with Trump approaching Hillary Clinton in the polls, Cruz’s diss had become more of a liability: A narrow Trump loss might have been pinned on Cruz for keeping conservatives home on Election Day because they were following his lead.

In recent days, strong signals emerged that the two rivals were warming to one another. Privately, Cruz huddled with Mike Pence last week. Trump backed Cruz’s effort on a legislative play involving internet regulation, then floated close Cruz ally Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) for the Supreme Court. Cruz praised Trump on Twitter.

Those moves by Trump, a source familiar with the process, were what made the difference for Cruz.

"Trump's willingness and decisive action to release a list of conservative jurists, particularly including Mike Lee, with the promise to choose from that list, was a top factor in Cruz's ultimate decision," the person said on Saturday morning.

By Friday afternoon, Cruz caved and Trump celebrated, despite having once said that he wouldn’t accept a Cruz endorsement even if it was offered.

"The things that bind them together is what's most important: their love for the country, their fear of a Hillary Clinton presidency," said Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager and a former president of a pro-Cruz super PAC. "This is a very big fish because these were the last two guys standing."

The endorsement took weeks to come together, people involved said. There was a long, subtle pitch from Trump’s camp to Cruz's people appealing to the senator's commitment to principle, and even suggestions that Cruz might be held responsible if Clinton wins. Sources within the campaign said Pence and Cruz made considerable progress during their meeting on Sept. 13, helping to set the stage for the eventual endorsement. And Cruz, they said, was also feeling pressure from the donor class, including the powerful—and once pro-Cruz-- Mercer family, which publicly reminded Cruz of his commitment to support the GOP nominee.

Still, there are limits to their alliance: Cruz and Trump didn't speak in advance of the endorsement, campaign sources say, though they talked afterward.

Cruz’s brand of “principled” conservatism has been predicated on never bending to political pressure, and he's spent his years in the Senate criticizing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders for bending to the will of Democrats and lobbyists. Now that could all be compromised.

“I frankly just don’t understand it at all,” said someone who works for Cruz on Friday. “You have to stick to your guns. What does Ted get out of this now? Frankly, what does Trump get out of it? He gets an unpopular person.”

In an interview Friday, Conway noted the tension within Cruz’s own camp. There was "enormous pressure on Sen. Cruz to not endorse,” she said. But remaining a holdout “would be an abrogation of the commitment he made a year ago," in his pledge to support the Republican nominee.

Cruz was caught between two whirling forces in the GOP: The conservative movement he led just five months ago and a Republican Party now finding itself actually unifying after a bizarre and divisive primary election seemed to threaten the party’s very existence.

Former Cruz aides wanted their onetime boss to stand strong. Rick Tyler, a former Cruz spokesman, said on Thursday that “there is enormous pressure to get on board [with Trump] but if he does, he's done.”

“If he announces he endorses, it destroys his political brand,” said someone who had worked for Cruz's campaign.

Cruz’s political calculation was exceedingly complicated. He’s now at risk of facing a real primary challenge in 2018 from Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), a deep-pocketed Republican who could draw backing from the GOP establishment in Texas. And Cruz’s standing in Texas has taken a significant hit since his refusal to endorse Trump, with some polls showing him vulnerable in his Senate primary.

But Cruz, at least publicly, has come to see the election as the binary choice Republicans have been citing all along as they fall in line behind Trump: The business mogul isn’t their first choice, but he’s better than Clinton.

“If you don’t want to see a Hillary Clinton presidency, I encourage you to vote for” Trump, Cruz wrote Friday.

For some in the GOP, Cruz will be known as a good party soldier. But others were plainly dejected. Glenn Beck called it a “profoundly sad day for me,” former Cruz speechwriter Amanda Carpenter could only muster that the turn of events was “very disappointing.” Top political aide Jason Johnson’s only comment was a photo of himself, covering his eyes.

Other Republicans said that the bizarre arc of Cruz and Trump’s relationship was less about winning the election — and more about egos.

“The people who are disposed to vote for Donald Trump are going to vote for Donald Trump regardless of who is or is not endorsing him,” said a Republican senator. “I don’t know that all of a sudden you’ll see this groundswell of people” supporting Trump.

Steve Deace, a conservative radio host who was instrumental in Cruz’s Iowa Caucus win, summed up the feeling that many Cruz loyalists were grappling with as the decision came down on Friday: "This is gonna be a political disaster," he said. "Sad. Unavoidable. Entirely self-inflicted."

Shane Goldmacher contributed to this report.

