Instead, the two first-term senators – both Cuban-Americans in their 40s – engaged in lengthy exchanges over their differences on national security and immigration, one of the most contentious issues in the Republican primary.
Advertisement
Donald Trump found himself defending his controversial temporary ban of Muslims from entry into the USA early in the fifth Republican debate. “We’re talking about security”, he said.
“I don’t think we’re in turmoil at all”, said Cole.
Bush continued to aggressively attack Trump, but the GOP frontrunner consistently showed a dismissive tone toward Bush questioning his toughness and fledgling campaign. Last week, Trump stunned the field by proposing to ban Muslims from entering the United States, a move his rivals assailed only to find many Republican voters backed the idea and Trump’s lead in opinion polls grew.
He made the promise in a candidates’ debate, which drew claps from a conservative radio host who helped moderate the CNN-hosted event Tuesday.
“Donald is great at the one-liners, but he is a chaos candidate and he would be a chaos president”, said Bush, 62, the former governor of Florida, who called Trump’s proposal to kill the families of Islamic State militants “just insane”.
While no one attacked Trump, Bush took on him like never before.
“If we’re going to ban all Muslims, how are we going to get them to be part of a coalition to destroy ISIS?” he said.
“Well, let’s see. I’m at 42, and you’re at 3”.
“Ruthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary to get it done”, Carson said, generating resounding applause.
Trump: “You can go back”.
BUSH: … imagine what it’s going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi.
In the mainstage debate at the Venetian in Las Vegas, televised on CNN, moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Trump toward the end if he was ready to commit not to running outside the party and to support whoever is the nominee.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Becca Glover Watkins, Burr’s communications director, suggested on social media that Cruz might have said something he shouldn’t have, though she didn’t specifically reference his comments. He again repeated his threat to “carpet bomb” extremists in Iraq and Syria. “I mean, I think when you think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don’t like their friends”. “We will stop the terrorist attacks before they occur because we will not be politically correct”. “He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border”, said Ted Cruz, (R) Presidential Candidate. They traded barbs on the expiration of the National Security Agency’s legal authority to collect bulk phone data. “And that tool we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal”. “‘All horse thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse thieves.”‘ said Cruz. Over the weekend Trump had called Cruz “a little bit of a maniac”. According to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, Trump was at 27 percent, followed by Cruz with 22 percent.
Advertisement
The debate’s focus on national security was a detriment for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has struggled on complex global matters. Rick Santorum, former New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen.
