How getting stomped by Donald Trump saved Ted Cruz's career

Don't shed any tears for Cruz — he played this whole thing perfectly

Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the presidential race at just the right moment.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Don't cry for Ted Cruz. The junior senator from Texas played his failed run for the White House perfectly.

All the evidence suggests that Cruz was genuinely in it to win the Republican nomination, dropping out only when it became mathematically impossible for him to become the nominee before the Republican National Convention and vanishingly difficult for him to wrest the nomination away from Donald Trump at the convention. He fought hard and executed a clever hug-Trump-until-the-end strategy. Surely, losing to the New York billionaire with shifting values, even among the Christian conservatives Cruz counted as his electoral rock, must have been hard and embarrassing.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.