Rick Perry Just Withdrew from the Presidential Race

Read: Election Class of 2016—Why America Is Waiting for Joe Biden

On Friday, in an address to the Eagle Forum conference in Missouri, former Texas Governor Rick Perry pulled out of the Presidential race. His speech touched on many topics, but then he got to a part about the Lord working in mysterious ways, and said, "That's why today I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States."

That makes Perry the first in the 17-Republican dogpile to officially pull out of the race.

Perry's campaign hadn't been going well. Polls indicated that he was down to 0.8 percent support, although he wasn't in last place. Bobby Jindal and Lindsey Graham are still bringing up the rear at 0.3 percent each.

His impassioned speech focused mainly on his vision for the Republican party, including a long section about states rights, in which he used Colorado as an example of a Goofus rather than a Gallant. "I support the states to be wrong, like Colorado," he said, adding "Legalizing pot is probably not gonna turn out that well for them."

Then he transitioned into subtly casting doubt on the qualifications of some unnamed Republican frontrunner. Riffing on Missouri's state nickname, he called for a "'show me' election," and urged Republicans not to choose someone who "speaks louder than his record." He also cautioned voters against "falling for the cult of personality."

"If a candidate can't take tough questions from a reporter, how in the world are they gonna deal with Russia, how are they gonna deal with China, or the fanatics in Iran?" he asked.

Nonetheless, he echoed Trump in calling for a policy of "securing the border with Mexico." He also sounded like he had internalized Trump's catchy slogan, "Make America great again," when he said "As Americans, we have the power to make the world new again," and later closed with a decidedly Rick Perry-ish hybrid of slogans: "Let's make America America again."

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