As Republican candidates take the main presidential debate stage, concerns over terrorism and how to respond to threats at home and overseas will weigh heavily over the CNN face-off in Las Vegas.
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As for another candidate’s mangling of his name during an exchange on the debate stage at the Venetian, Priebus was similarly at ease. The Texas senator is on the rise, particularly in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, where he’s challenging Trump’s months-long lead.
“Donald Trump’s not going to be president of the United States by insulting every group on the planet – insulting women, POWs, war heroes, Hispanics, disabled, African-Americans”, Bush said.
“He talks tough about how we are going to make the sand glow in the desert, but you can only do that if you have an Air Force”, the Florida senator told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum on the “America’s Newsroom” program, explaining that the containment budget Cruz favors will drastically reduce the nation’s military budget.
And Trump seems more than happy to engage with Bush. And we now learn that the DHS says “No, we can’t check their social media”. “We are not talking about religion, we are talking about security”.
Most candidates rejected front-runner Donald Trump’s recommendation to temporarily block all Muslims from entering the country, with some casting their opposition in pragmatic terms and others saying the proposal is immoral. Political experts said a third-party Trump campaign would all but ensure that a Democrat wins the White House, because a large portion of Trump supporters would likely follow him if he left the Republican Party, leaving the GOP with less support to beat a strong opponent like Clinton. If he should lose the nomination, some fear he would make such a move, possibly preventing the nominee from defeating the Democratic challenger.
“And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we’ve been talking about (national security)”, Cruz said at the CNN-hosted debate Tuesday night. The national conversation at the debate was dominated by Southern California issues.
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The presidential rivalry between both Cuban-American senators in their 40’s is sure to continue as the first voting contest in February draws closer. The two are, instead, focusing increasingly on each other, lashing out over their differences on national security and immigration. In another mini-drama, Rubio and Cruz sparred over the NSA’s data collection and immigration as they each tried to separate themselves from the pack to become the clearest alternative to Trump. “We need to learn from history”, said Ted Cruz, who likened USA efforts to support moderate rebels in places like Libya and Syria to a search for a “purple unicorn”. “I’m totally committed to the Republican Party”, he said. Leadership is not attacking people along with disparaging them, but more of creating a serious strategy. At one point Dr. Ben Carson asked who he’d side with… the retired neurosurgeon declined to do that. “Marco has more of an allegiance to [Democratic New York Sen.] Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy”.
