RNC Day 3 report from 18-year-old

Tanner Goldsmith, an 18-year-old Columbus resident, is helping to represent Georgia at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland as an alternate delegate. Here is his report about Wednesday’s activities, the third of the four-day event.

Goldsmith, who wanted U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to be the party’s presidential nominee, was on the convention floor in Quicken Loans Arena when Cruz was booed off the stage for not endorsing billionaire businessman Donald Trump of New York.

“Because he was speaking at the convention and signed the Republican pledge, I assumed that Cruz would endorse Donald Trump,” Goldsmith wrote Wednesday in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer. “Cruz's speech began strongly, but as he neared the end of his speech, confusion swept the arena. Confusion was followed by anger, as the crowd began to realize that Cruz would not formally endorse the GOP's nominee.

“Although I did not boo, I was extremely disappointed in Senator Cruz. If he did not plan on supporting the eventual nominee, he should have refused to sign the pledge and simply suffered the political ramifications. As far as attending the convention, Ted Cruz should have never agreed to speak at the RNC if he had no plans of fully endorsing the Republican nominee. At the same time, booing Senator Cruz further painted a divisive picture of the Republican Party, which in no way aided Trump or the perception of this year's RNC.”

Despite that disappointment, Goldsmith was excited to hear former Newt Gingrich, a 1961 graduate of Baker High School in Columbus, address the convention. Goldsmith considers the former Georgia congressman and Speaker of the House (1995-99) “one of my favorite politicians.”

“As he took the stage, I joined in to chants of ‘Newt’ and listened as he drew a thunderous applause,” Goldsmith wrote. “I found Gingrich's speech to be the best of the night. (I'm a little biased because he is from Georgia.)”

Goldsmith believes Gingrich would have been Trump’s best selection for a running mate, but he nonetheless considers Indiana Gov. Mike Pence “a good choice for vice president because he does a fantastic job of balancing the ticket. Whereas Trump is a relatively liberal loose cannon, Mike Pence is a more reserved, extremely conservative politician.”

CNN broadcast Goldsmith’s opinion via an interview on its Facebook live feed.

“We discussed what conservative Millennials must do in order to grow the Republican Party,” he wrote. “We also discussed Donald Trump's appeal (or lack thereof) with Millennials. It was a fantastic opportunity to convey my message of expanding conservatism and the Republican Party to make it more inclusive.”

Click here for Goldsmith’s Day 1 report, when he opined about the Melania Trump controversy.

Click here for Goldsmith’s Day 2 report, when he expressed the “unbelievable” feeling of being in the convention arena during the roll-call vote that resulted in Trump clinching the nomination.

The Ledger-Enquirer previously reported about the path Goldsmith took to reach this point, as well as Columbus High classmate David Smith, 18, who will be a delegate at the Democratic National Convention next week in Philadelphia.

This story was originally published July 21, 2016 at 1:37 PM with the headline "RNC Day 3 report from 18-year-old."