--- title: Ben Carson: Ted Cruz Needs to Endorse Donald Trump description: Ben Carson said Wednesday that he thinks Ted Cruz has a responsibility to endorse Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4415715/republican-convention-ben-carson-ted-cruz-speech/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-20T20:47:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:54.341Z article:section: Politics og:title: Carson: Cruz Has a 'Responsibility' to Endorse Trump og:description: "I think he has a responsibility to endorse him at some point." og:url: https://time.com/4415715/republican-convention-ben-carson-ted-cruz-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec83b459a63c3e40/69889cd78e0601dda9466c5f/ben-carson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ben Carson speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Carson: Cruz Has a 'Responsibility' to Endorse Trump twitter:description: "I think he has a responsibility to endorse him at some point." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec83b459a63c3e40/69889cd78e0601dda9466c5f/ben-carson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Carson: Ted Cruz Has a 'Responsibility' to Endorse Donald Trump  by [Tessa Berenson / Cleveland](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson / Cleveland Jul 20, 2016 8:47 PM UTC  Ben Carson speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, OH, on July 19, 2016. Ben Carson speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, OH, on July 19, 2016.Aaron P. Bernstein—Reuters  by [Tessa Berenson / Cleveland](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson / Cleveland Jul 20, 2016 8:47 PM UTC Ben Carson said Wednesday that he thinks Ted Cruz has a responsibility to endorse Donald Trump. Asked about Cruz supporters who booed Trump’s plane after it flew overhead in Cleveland Wednesday morning, Carson told TIME that the Texas Senator needs to formally get behind the nominee. “I think he has a responsibility to endorse him at some point,” the retired neurosurgeon said. “Ted Cruz will have some responsibility to signal to those people that whatever they think of Donald Trump, someone who basically wants to move us to another form of government, socialism, even though she wont say it, is not what they want,” he said. “Even though it may give them some temporary satisfaction to thumb their nose at Donald Trump, you’ve got to think beyond that.” Carson, who has been advising Trump’s campaign since he dropped out of the Republican primary, said even if Cruz doesn’t endorse Trump during his speech tonight, it’s still an important opportunity for him to make peace with his former foe. “Tonight I think he has a responsibility to extend an olive branch,” he said. Carson gave his own speech at the convention Tuesday evening, veering away from his prepared remarks to [connect Clinton to Lucifer](http://time.com/4414789/ben-carson-hillary-clinton-lucifer/?iid=sr-link1). “The teleprompter was moving a little slow,” Carson explained. “So rather than pause and wait for it, I just said, ‘Pshh.'” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4415715/republican-convention-ben-carson-ted-cruz-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4415715/republican-convention-ben-carson-ted-cruz-speech/"},"headline":"Ben Carson: Ted Cruz Has a 'Responsibility' to Endorse Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-07-20T20:47:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:54.341Z","description":"Ben Carson said Wednesday that he thinks Ted Cruz has a responsibility to endorse Donald Trump.","url":"https://time.com/4415715/republican-convention-ben-carson-ted-cruz-speech/","keywords":["Republican National Convention","2016 Election","ted cruz","Donald Trump","Dr. Benjamin S. 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