AUSTIN, Texas _ The issues that made Ted Cruz and the tea party movement the unbridled future of conservative American politics no longer motivate the GOP base, according to some of the senator's closest allies.
So Cruz, 47, is embracing a new route to appeal to his party's voters this fall _ leaning on the policies and popularity of his one-time nemesis, President Donald Trump.
Cruz and Trump attacked each other bitterly during the 2016 fight for the GOP Republican presidential nomination. Cruz was one of the last Republican candidates to endorse Trump for the general election.