Caption + Donald Trump, left, and Ted Cruz joke about remarks Cruz has made about Trump’s temperament during the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas.
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Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush pointed to recent world events to highlight what he sees as not serious ideas from front-runner Donald Trump.
All five appeared in the main debate, along with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Ohio Governor John Kasich, US Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and former corporate executive Carly Fiorina.
Bush and Trump traded barbs during the debate with Trump once again insisting Bush didn’t have the grit it would take to make a good president. Bush was more aggressive than in previous debates, and Trump lashed out at him, calling his campaign “a disaster” at one point. Other candidates have risen and fallen, but the legion of Trump’s support has not wavered. And yet, we also know that ISIS is recruiting people who are not in those databases.
Trump also addressed speculation that he might run as an independent, saying he is totally committed to the republican party.
“Not only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it”, he said. “Any time you deal with numbers – and I think it dealt with numbers – the question is, is that classified or not, or is there an open source reference to it?”
Responding to a question about whether he’d be willing to order a strike against ISIS that could result in the deaths of innocent children, Carson pointed to his experience as a neurosurgeon. “Let me just be very clear: There is nothing we are allowed to do under (the new law) that we could not do before”. I complied happily and they will as well. “Donald, you’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency”.
“We need to try something else”, he said.
“It’s having that kind of judgment – who you would appoint and how you’re going to conduct affairs – that is incredibly important”, he said. I don’t think anyone is attacking me, I think it’s just, you’re number one by a lot – I mean, I was number one by 27 points.
After the debate, Trump suggested he had spared Cruz because the senator had repented enough for his comments. “I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the [undercard] debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess”. “I think it’s the usual rhetoric out of the other contenders”. But they are also running against Trump, who is dominating polls partially because of his hardline stance on immigration, including building a wall on the border with Mexico and banning all Muslim travel to the U.S.
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Arguing that “an overwhelming majority of Americans in both parties wants to see our broken immigration system fixed, wants to see the problem solved, the border secured, and our remaining a nation that welcomes and celebrates legal immigrants”, Cruz told York he had been trying “to amend the Gang of Eight bill so that it actually solves the problem rather than making the problem worse”.
