Today I'm very proud, and very humbled and honored to announce, that I have accepted Senator Ted Cruz’s offer to be his Vice President for the Republican nomination.
You know Ted Cruz could not be more right in what he said. There is a lot at stake, and in fact, this is a fight. This is a fight for the soul of our party, and the future of our nation. There are some who would say, a lot of people in the media would say, why have the fight? Just lay down. Just let it be over here. You know what? I’ve had tough fights all my life, tough fights don’t worry me a bit. What matters is, is the fight worth having? This is a fight worth having, this is a fight worth winning, and with your help, and we will win this fight.
This fight is about far more than a ticket. This fight is about far more than Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina. This is a fight for all of us. For our party, for our future, for our children's future. You know, last night it was pretty clear, everybody in the media, the establishment, the elites, they all said, well it's over. I mean it's over, Donald Trump won. But it isn’t over, because you and people all across the great Hoosier State, people all across this nation, know that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both will be disastrous for this nation.
What we have, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, they are two sides of the same coin. They're both liberal, we know that. But you know Hillary Clinton, like so many politicians, Hillary Clinton has made her millions selling access and influence from inside the system, and Donald Trump has made his billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. They are not going to challenge the system that has sold us all down the river, they’re not going to challenge the elites. They're not going to challenge the crony capitalists. They're not going to challenge the Washington insiders. They're not going to challenge the lobbyists, gosh her campaign is filled with them. No, they're not going to challenge the system, they are the system.
You know, Ted mentioned that it's been seven weeks since I indorsed him. I voted for him before I ever had a conversation with him about endorsing him, and of course that's what you all have to do on Tuesday. We've been traveling around the country and I've come to know Ted and Heidi and Caroline and Catherine.
(Singing) I know two girls that I just adore, I’m so happy I can see them more. Because we travel on the bus all day, we get to play. We get to play.
I won't bore you with any more of the song. But they have four verses Caroline and Catherine, love you girls.
Here’s what I have come to know about this man who must be the next President if the United States. He's a fighter too. He's been in lots of fights. He has fought for our religious liberty, he has fought for our right to bear arms, he has fought over and over in front of the Supreme Court so many times, and he's won all those fights.
You know, there are people who say, well he's made some enemies. Listen, as someone who's challenged the status quo all my life, that's what I've done, that's how you get from secretary to CEO, you challenge the status quo. It's actually the only way to solve festering problems, and lord knows we have festering problems in Washington D.C. The only way you solve festering problems is you actually have to challenge the status quo. I'll tell you something about challenging the system and the status quo. You do more than ruffle feathers. You do more than rock the boat. You make enemies. So I am reassured and I am proud of some of the enemies that Ted Cruz has made. It means he’s gonna fight, and this is our fight.
But let me tell you something else about this man. Those two girls that I’ve grown to adore, Caroline and Catherine, let me tell you how much they adore their dad. I have watched Ted and Heidi, they are partners. They are a couple that rely on one another, just as my husband Frank of over 30 years and I rely on each other through good times and in bad. Ted is, a lot of fun. Yes let's face, it he's really brilliant. He's a constitutional attorney for heaven sakes, but he’s a lot of fun.
In fact, he mentioned watching a basketball game. You know, we were on the bus and we were watching the Final Four. We we're watching the very last game, Villanova and North Carolina. Here we are in the final, if you remember that game, you're in basketball state, right?
You remember game. Here we are Hoosiers, anyway, its 4.38 seconds to go in the game, and without knowing what the exciting finish would be, here’s Ted Cruz putting money on the game. Everybody's got the money falling on the table. He's a heck of a lot of fun, but more than that he actually is what he says he is. He is who he says he is.
Ted mentioned that 2nd debate. One of the things that I got asked in that debate was, and I’ve been asked almost every day since, well, will you support Donald Trump if he’s the nominee. I said then what I said the week that he announced his candidacy. He doesn’t represent me, and he does not represent my party. But here’s something else I said in that 2nd debate. I said, you know, there’s an old saying, tough times build character. That’s not true. Tough times reveal character. Character is revealed over time and under pressure. Character is revealed in the pattern of someone's life, not in what they choose to say behind a podium. I can tell you that the character of Ted Cruz has been revealed over time and under pressure, and in the pattern of his life.
He is a principal fighter, he is a man of character and conviction, and he understands the importance of the Constitution to the future of this nation. Now I have to take a moment and explain why the Constitution even matters. As you know, there are some people would say wow it's a dusty relic, it was written so long ago. Let me tell you why it matters, but to tell you why it matters I need to go back and tell you a little bit about myself.
When I was a little girl just eight years old I was in Sunday school one morning, my mother was my Sunday school teacher that year. She looked at me and the rest of her class and she said, what you are is God's gift to you, what you make of yourself is your gift to God. I have travelled, and leisured, and we worked all over the world for decades. I have seen people in every possible corner of the globe, and in every conceivable circumstance, and I can tell you that indeed each of us, all of us, are gifted by God.
Each of us, each of us, and all of us, have the capacity and the desire to live lives of dignity, and purpose, and meaning. We know, and it has always been true, that work done well brings us dignity, and family brings us purpose, and faith gives meaning to our lives. That is true, all over the world. When people do not have the opportunity to work, they lose dignity. When families are frayed, purpose becomes uncertain.
When people are disconnected from their faith, then they lose meaning in their lives. So if everyone is gifted by God, if everyone has the desire and the capacity to live a life of dignity, and purpose, and meaning. We must ask ourselves, now as Americans, when we face so much in this fight, we must ask ourselves, why is it, that more things, have been more possible, for more people, for more places, here than anywhere else on earth. Because knowing the answer to that question, is what will save the future of this nation.
I am keenly aware, I am keenly aware, that it is only in this nation that a young woman can start out the way I did, typing, filing, answering the phones, for a nine-person real estate firm, one day go on, and become the Chief Executive of what we turned into the largest technology company in the world, run for the Presidency United States, and run now for the Vice Presidency of the United States. That is only possible in this great nation.
The reason it's possible, the reason it’s possible here and only here, is because our founders knew what my mother taught me. Our founders knew that everyone is gifted by God, that all of us are equal in the eyes of God that everyone has potential, usually far more then we realized. So they said, we're going to found a nation on a radical visionary idea. That here, in this nation, everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That was their way of saying that everyone has the right to find and use their God-given gifts to fulfill their potential.
They said, and this was the radical part, that, that right comes from God, and cannot be taken away by man or government. So this became a nation where entrepreneurship flourished, and innovation flourished, and where more things, became more possible, for more people, from more places. The Constitution lightly enshrines our rights and liberties, it gives us a chance to fulfill our potential.
But our founders knew something else. Our founders knew that it has always been true all throughout history, and I used to study history. Our founders knew that all throughout history, this also is true. Power concentrated, is power abused. So the Constitution is rightly understood, not just as a document to enshrine our rights and liberties, but also a document to prevent, to restrain, the concentration of abuse and power. We have flowed and gone way too far from the Constitution.
The reality is that for the last decade, under Republicans and Democrats alike, too much power and too much money are concentrated in the hands of too few. We must restore power, liberty, where it belongs. In the hands of citizens of this nation, small businesses, communities and states, that is why having a constitutional conservative in the White House matters. Because a President, in order to fix what ails us, must restore our constitutional balance of power.
Our entrenched political system, our system of crony capitalism now, it works if you're a big company, but it doesn't work if you're a small company. It works if you're wealthy, or powerful, or well-connected like Donald Trump, or like Hillary Clinton, just for example. But it doesn't work for the rest of us. Ours was intended to be a citizen government, and now we must restore. A President Ted Cruz will restore power back where it belongs in the hands of citizens, and communities, and the states of this great nation.
What is at stake now is the future of our nation, the potential of our nation, will this be a nation, where every American regardless of their circumstances, has the opportunity that comes from their God-given gifts. Will we be one nation, indivisible, under God with liberty and justice for all, or not. Our country is being taken away from us by the elites, by the crony capitalists, by the special interests that have captured both parties. They want to take away, they are taking away. Not only what we treasure about this nation, but what has made this nation great. What has made this nation a place a possibility for so many people.
My fellow Americans, people of Indiana, it is time. We must take our country back.
This is the fight of our time, and I believe Ted Cruz is the man to lead that fight. I am prepared to stand by his side, and give this everything I have. To restore the soul of our party, to defeat Donald Trump, to defeat Hillary Clinton, and to take our country back. So my fellow citizens, you must stand with us, you must fight with us, we must restore the potential of this nation. We must restore what has made this nation great for so many people, regardless of their circumstances. So the possibilities of this nation, the opportunity of this nation, the rights and liberties of this nation, can extend to every American. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the fight of our times, Ted Cruz is the man to lead that fight, I will stand proudly by his side, and I want you to stand with us as we fight.
Ladies and gentlemen please welcome back the next President of the United States, Ted Cruz.
Neither the Catt Center nor Iowa State University is affiliated with any individual in the Archives or any political party. Inclusion in the Archives is not an endorsement by the center or the university.