Donald Trump let bitter primary rival Sen. Ted Cruz speak at the Republican National Convention even though he knew there's be no endorsement, all for the sake of party unity — and it worked, Donald Trump Jr. said Thursday.
In an interview on
MSNBC's "Morning Joe," the younger Trump said Cruz's blatant non-endorsement "galvanized" the party.
"So if there was any doubt left going into yesterday, I think him doing that galvanized everyone," Trump Jr. said of Cruz's non-endorsement speech. "You heard it. He did a phenomenal job bringing the party together. I would like to thank him for the greatest endorsement we could have possibly received."
The son of the GOP nominee said "we knew [an endorsement] wasn't coming."
"My father wanted all the guys who wanted to be there, he wanted to give them a platform," he said. "I think he wants to show that he's about unity, so he knew that was happening and he was a better man about it."
Cruz's speech, in which he urged Republicans to "vote your conscience" was booed and later denounced, even as it put on full
display a rift within the party between traditional conservatives and Trump populists.
But Trump Jr. asserted the speech had the intended unifying effect after all.
"Honestly in the end there wasn't much disunity there," he said.
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