CLEVELAND — The greatest performance of the Republican National Convention was clearly given by Ted Cruz, and be greatest we mean the worst.

Ted Cruz decided to get his 2020 campaign ball rolling by sticking a big old knife into Donald Trump’s back.

The Texas senator uttered Trump’s name only once — to congratulate him — during his speech. He spent the rest of the time pitching ideological conservatism.

When it became clear he wasn’t going to endorse Trump, delegates booed and chanted “We want Trump!”

Backstage things got ugly for Cruz. Heidi Cruz was heckled by Trump supporters shouting “Goldman Sachs” as she was escorted out by security. And when Cruz tried to enter Sheldon Adelson’s suite, he was shut down.

When Cruz was confronted by his own constituents on Thursday to put the party before his own ambitions and back Trump, Cruz refused and used his wife as an excuse.