Hillary Clinton on Friday used Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s speech at the Republican National Convention to attack Donald Trump.
“Something has gone terribly wrong when one speaker says ‘vote your conscience’ and gets booed,” Clinton said during a campaign rally in Tampa, Fla. “I mean, I never thought I would say these words, but Ted Cruz was right.”
“In this election, do the right thing and vote your conscience, vote for your future, vote for a United States of America!” she said to applause.
Cruz was panned by Republican convention-goers this week when he refused to endorse Donald Trump, and instead told people to “vote your conscience.” The move left many GOP delegates confused, and Trump said Friday he believes Cruz might have sabotaged his own political career.
But Clinton echoed Cruz at the outset of her speech, a move that could damage Trump and embolden Trump’s team to keep attacking the Texas senator. “He’s a fraud, a liar, self-centered and should never be considered again for president,” Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., a longtime Cruz antagonist, said immediately after Cruz’s convention speech.
Clinton’s comments also echo Cruz’s defense of his own remarks, as he noted the irony of “vote your conscience” being a controversial statement at a meeting with Texas Republicans the morning after his speech.
“And that pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi that I’m going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say ‘thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father,'” Cruz also said.
Clinton criticized other aspects of Trump’s Thursday night speech, including when he said, “I alone can fix it.”
“His vision of America is one where we Americans are kind of helpless, where we need to be rescued,” she said.
And she rejected Trump’s claim when he said, “I am your voice.”
“I don’t think he speaks for most Americans, do you?” she asked.
