CLEVELAND — Senator Ted Cruz of Texas did not come here this week to unite Republicans around their presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump. Armed with his usual arsenal of florid oratory, self-regard and blunt force, he came instead to rally them, someday, around Ted Cruz.



He failed, at least for the moment. And in the process, he managed to do the unthinkable — make Mr. Trump look like a victim.

Determined to be more than just another speaker and looking beyond the November election, Mr. Cruz worked with aides for weeks to fashion a speech that they hoped would define him beyond his failed 2016 quest for the White House and advance his image beyond Tea Party upstart to a modern version of his idol, Ronald Reagan.

He offered lofty paeans on Wednesday to an America that included gays and atheists and where heroism was displayed not just by service members fighting terrorism on the front lines but also by the forgiving families of those killed last year at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. He spoke to a broader audience of Americans that many have accused Republicans of ignoring.