Trump, who has proven to be a master at finding a perceived weakness in an opponent, has made an increasing issue of Cruz’s Canadian birth.
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Seven presidential candidates, the smallest field to date, shared the podium Thursday night at the sixth Republican debate in North Charleston, S.C.
“Since September, the Constitution hasn’t changed”, Cruz said. Trump shot back: “As you know, Ted, in the last three polls I’m beating you. I want security. I’m exhausted of seeing what’s going on”.
And he succeeded in keeping the question alive – a loss, in and of itself, for Cruz. “If he did put it to bed, he’s certainly sleeping alone”, he said.
“I’m not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump”, Cruz retorted.
“I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York”, Trump said.
“We rebuilt Downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and loved NY and loved New Yorkers”, he said. Marco Rubio as Trump and Cruz sparred over Cruz’s citizenship.
But is Cruz making a mistake in beating up NY?
The Christie-Rubio dynamic stood out at times, particularly when Rubio refused to condemn an ad from a super PAC supporting him that portrays Christie as similar to President Barack Obama.
He attacked Christie as well, accusing him of have liberal positions on education policy and abortion.
As the debate ended, things also got testy between Cruz and Senate colleague Marco Rubio of Florida, who accused the Texan of wavering on a range of issues from immigration to ethanol.
Thursday night’s debate came at the end of a week that has highlighted anew the deep rifts in the Republican Party. “That’s essentially what we have now, and we don’t need that”.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich welcomed Sanders’ rise in the polls.
Fiorina’s candidacy has largely been defined by memorable debate performances. In previous debates there has sometimes been an everyone-vs.-Rubio dynamic; this time Cruz was the man in the middle.
Cruz, suffice it to say, asked to respond.
“Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power”, Rubio said.
Cruz fought back, arguing that Rubio had distorted his record at every turn and saying Rubio had allied with Democrats like Sen. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a rising GOP star, was widely praised by many party leaders for including a veiled criticism of Trump’s angry rhetoric during her response to Obama’s State of the Union address – only to be chastised by conservative commentators and others for the exact same comment. Rubio garnered 11.3 percent and Carson, 8 percent.
The next Republican debate will be January 28 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
He said the fact that the Texas Senator was born in Canada raises questions about his eligibility.
Cruz and Christie subsequently both described the president as “a child”.
Right out of the gate, she dealt a sharp personal attack on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
And he didn’t make good use of his time.
But skipping the debate worked for him.
“People have to realize that what the media is doing here is predeciding an election”, Paul said on CNN’s “New Day”. He was interviewed on “The Daily Show” and “The Dr. Oz Show”.
Cruz voted against the $1.1 trillion spending bill that made permanent a program providing health coverage and compensation for 9/11 first responders, and joined Rubio in opposing federal aid to NY and New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy. He Periscoped for 20 minutes during the debate.
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Mike Huckabee’s reaction when Fox Business Network anchor Sandra Smith repeated his previous statement that he called “President Obama’s executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane”.
