Suddenly, all the nooks and crannies in front of the VIP section swelled with cameras. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, once again on the front lines, elbowed her way to the front. What they all wanted of the moment was unclear. It grew so crowded that a man in a neon yellow hat came forward to disperse the crowd.
Cruz took the stage. “We don’t have a king or a queen,” he said at one point. The Trump family emitted a quiet, regal burst of applause.
Later, after Cruz had been booed off stage, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews approached the box and asked a security guard if the senator were there. “I’m trying to get him on TV,” Matthews explained, before ambling away.
“I’m pretty sure the VIP section is the last place Cruz would be right now, but what do I know,” the guard said after he had left.