Cruz: ‘Pitchforks and Torches’ If GOP Doesn’t ‘Deliver’ on Promises

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Republican voters would take up “pitchforks and torches” if the party’s leaders don’t deliver on the promises that propelled Donald Trump to the White House and gave the GOP full control of Congress.

“If we’re given the White House and both houses of Congress and we don’t deliver, I think there will be pitchforks and torches in the streets,” Cruz said on ABC’s “This Week.” “And I think quite rightly. I think people are so fed up with Washington. This election was a mandate with change, and the most catastrophic thing Republicans could do is go back to business as usual.”

Cruz, a hardline conservative voice in the Senate, has been a constant thorn in the side of the GOP leadership in the upper chamber. He said he is encouraged by many of Trump’s selections for his cabinet and West Wing team, including Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

Trump has suggested in recent days that he would back away from many of the promises that were cornerstones of his presidential campaign—including fully repealing the Affordable Care Act and appointing a special prosecutor to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton over her private email server.

—Andrew Desiderio