Texas Sen. Ted Cruz Booed Off Stage At Republican Convention In Cleveland [UPDATED]

CLEVELAND, OH — The long-awaited appearance of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday began well enough, with the onetime political rival of the GOP presidential nominee ticking off a list of conservative ideals.

But then, the jeers began. Those in the crowd — particularly in the New York delegation from Trump's home base — began chanting "Endorse Trump! Endorse Trump! Endorse Trump!" as it began to appear likely that Cruz wouldn't be offering his full-throated endorsement of the party's nominee.

"To those listening, please, don’t stay home in November," Cruz said amid the cacophony. "If you love your country and love your children as much as I know you do, stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution."

At that, the boos began in earnest. Cruz didn't exactly ingratiate himself with them in goading the New York delegates while acknowledging their growing impatience for the endorsement that never came.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm of the New York delegation," he said in an ad libbed remark, which only served to incite the crowd further.

It was, to say the least, a non-endorsement. Worse, some political pundits later told CNN his remarks were something more akin to party mutiny on a ship whose crew members have touted the benefits of unity.

Cruz was then booed off the stage, as Trump made his way onto the convention floor to listen to his son, Eric Trump, address the gathering after Cruz. Some pundits later said Trump appeared to quell the din and take attention off Cruz. Either way, it was a scene of pure chaos.

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Always one to have the last word — or in his case, the last tweet — Trump made his feelings known about Cruz's performance via Twitter, claiming that he got an advance peek at his onetime (or still) rival's speech but let him go on stage anyway.

The senator lost the crowd after what started off as competent speechifying that touched on some of Trump's pet issues — aversion to the "elites" and free-trade pacts — that seemed to resonate with the crowd. Cruz even went so far as to endorse Trump's signature pledge of building a wall along the southern border with Mexico, which was the very issue that launched Trump's improbable presidential race in the first place.

"Voters are overwhelmingly rejecting the political establishment and overwhelmingly saying no to big government," Cruz said early in his speech to spontaneous applause. "That is a profound victory. People are fed up with politicians who don’t listen to them, fed up with a corrupt system that benefits the elites, instead of working men and women."

And then the immigration pièce de résistance, met with cheers and applause from the crowd: "We deserve an immigration system that puts America first, and yes, builds a wall to keep America safe," Cruz said.

The line got some positive reaction. But what the crowd giveth, the crowd taketh away. The impatient crowd turned on Cruz, starting their chorus of boos.

It was most unexpected, as this was billed as some sort of conciliatory reunion between both men. But, in retrospect, the bad blood between Trump and Cruz from the campaign could've presaged the stunning spectacle that was to unfold.

The mere presence of the Texas senator at the national convention was a development once considered implausible. During his own run for president against Trump, the two men became bitter rivals after having started off as friendly and courteous.

Their give-and-take while on the stump devolved into petty name-calling, Trump nicknaming him "Lying Ted," and Cruz labeling the reality-star-turned-presidential-nominee as a "serial philanderer," "amoral" and a "pathological liar." At one point, Trump posted an unflattering picture of Cruz's wife. He would go on to hint that Cruz's Cuba-born father had a hand in assassinating JFK.

Clearly, it's hard to make nice after all that noise.

But arguably, this campaign-created fissure between the two men was never so dramatically illustrated than on the stage of the GOP gathering. In an already-strange political season, it was a surreal scene indeed.