We were right there in the middle of it on the floor of the arena when it happened, when failed GOP presidential candidate and U.S. Senator from Texas Ted Cruz was forced to sport a shit-eating grin in the face of very loud detractors.
It happened during his Wednesday night Republican National Committee speech, when Trump supporters were hoping he'd voice support for Trump.
The evangelical Christian and notoriously anti-marriage equality senator sought to appeal to all groups, with a message stressing diversity while blaming President Obama and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for all of the problems.
As his teleprompter-fed oration wore on, members of the Florida delegation started to get restless.
"What about Trump?" one woman shouted.
And even as he got multiple standing ovations for remarks on the Second Amendment, a border wall and other red-meat issues, there was a sprinkling of calls for him to endorse Trump.
That was one syllable he wasn't going to utter, though, and the more apparent that became, the more clamor there was.
Someone shouted that Cruz had promised to endorse the GOP nominee, whoever it turned out to be.
Some members of the crowd began shouting, "Trump! Trump! Trump!"
As his speech reached its crescendo, so did the ire of the crowd.
He told voters they had the right to vote their conscience, and to choose someone who would uphold the Constitution.
The crowd booed.
The booing continued as Cruz formulaically ended his speech via "God Bless you all and God bless the United States of America" or something. But he played it cool, so pro that the shit-eating grin stuck to his face as he walked off the stage.
The crowd booed until he was gone.
It's not entirely a surprise Cruz didn't endorse Trump, given the vicious and sustained primary fight between the two. But the convention, to many (including Trump), was supposed to be about unifying the party to fight against Clinton.
Well, tough shit, man.
Moments after the nationally televised public shaming, former U.S. Speaker Newt Gingrich tried to soothe the crowd.
"I think you misunderstood one paragraph of Ted Cruz('s speech)," Gingrich said. "Ted Cruz said, 'You can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution. In this election there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution.'"
And, Gingrich said, Cruz wasn't talking about Clinton.
So, Cruz sorta-kinda endorsed Trump? No. Not really.
