Ted Cruz's refusal to endorse Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump Wednesday made him seem "like a sore loser," Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said.
"We only heard Donald Trump's name once, and it was noticeable," Wallace said on a Fox News panel following the Texas senator's speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
"Vote your conscience, vote up and down the ticket for people you can trust — not vote for Donald Trump.
"They booed him," Wallace said. "Win or lose for Donald Trump, Cruz will pay a price.
"He looks like a sore loser."
Near the end of the speech, the New York delegation shouted "endorse Trump, endorse Trump" — and then led the conventioneers in booing Cruz.
"I've never seen anything like this at a convention," said Tucker Carlson, who raised a more critical question to moderator Megyn Kelly.
"First, how did this happen? These speeches are vetted," he continued. "This is Trump's convention.
"If you don't support Trump, don't show up — and many Republicans have not."
According to news reports, Cruz's speech was vetted by Republican National Committee officials earlier Wednesday — and the text was among those of the evening's speakers released to reporters before the program began.
But Brit Hume dismissed any thought that Cruz was brave in not endorsing Trump — sticking to his refusal since leaving the campaign in May.
"Ted Cruz sucked up to Donald Trump for months at the beginning of this campaign," he began. "When others were critical, he was: 'I like Donald. I admire Donald. I think Donald is a breath of fresh air.'
"He tried to basically split-screen the Trump campaign in the belief Trump would fade and he would inherit that constituency," Hume added. "It didn't work that way.
"He then turned on Trump, as he must have thought he had to — and he is now where he is.
"For anybody to argue this was brave after Cruz was once endorsing him, almost endorsing him, is nonsense."
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