And he gets his foreign policy experience from the shows.
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Asked about his earlier comments calling Trump “unhinged”, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said: “Donald, you know, is great at the one-liners”.
Bush dismissed the proposal as unserious, saying “Donald is great at the one-liners, but he’s a chaos candidate and he’d be a chaos president”. Then Bush borrowed an Obama jab, saying that if Trump couldn’t handle a GOP debate, he’d never be able to stand up to Putin. “If we expect to do this on our own, we will fail”, said Bush, a former Florida governor, who came out swinging to try to revitalize his ailing campaign.
Speaking on CBS This Morning, Christie said that “what you need to do is continue to make your case to the American people and our Republican primary voters about the safety and security of our country. and who is best prepared, who is the most tested and is most ready to protect the United States of America and its citizens”.
“We are not talking about isolation”.
“While everyone said I beat him last night, I was only responding to his desperate attempt to stay relevant by attacking me”, wrote Trump. Donald Trump still dominated the discussion, even when he wasn’t being questioned directly, but Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, the candidates just behind him in the polls, were a bigger presence than they’ve been in previous debates.
The Tuesday night debate on CNN dealt mainly with the challenge posed by the Islamic State, particularly in the wake of the deadly attack this month in San Bernardino, Calif.
He said the next president would need to have strong judgment skills. “You know, you started off over here, Jeb”. Uh, sort of? Bush didn’t suddenly demonstrate Megyn Kelly-like poise, but he was the only candidate who consistently went after Trump. Marco Rubio brought up his family history during the immigration debate.
“ISIS is gaining strength because the perception Is that they’re winning, and President Obama fuels that perception”.
“I am going to be a Republican, I’m not going to be a third party”, Trump said on CNN right after the debate.
Cruz and Trump have largely avoided skirmishes on the campaign trail but that ended in recent days as the Texas senator’s standing improves in Iowa. Cruz has moved past him in some Iowa surveys. In one testy exchange, Rubio noted that Cruz had voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which includes funding for Iron Dome, the short-range anti-missile program Israel has used to deflect rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
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.
As was the case Tuesday in Las Vegas, Bush’s rivals have adopted a more measured approach with Trump recently, declining to attack him too aggressively while embracing the anti-establishment sentiment fueling his candidacy. Cruz reiterated his position that the US needs to use “overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy ISIS”.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Trump’s proposal was an offense to Muslims who serve in the USA military.
