Relations started to cool over the last week after Trump questioned Cruz’ citizenship.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump points to the crowd while speaking at a rally Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Cruz’s ability to authoritatively dismiss the issue stems in part from the backing he is enjoying from conservative talk radio, where some of the most influential hosts appear to be circling the wagons around Cruz on the matter since it burst to the forefront last week. “It’s entirely possible the final two candidates will be Trump and Cruz, and people like me will be despondent”.
More than two hours of prime-time argument Thursday presented voters with a sharp contrast to the optimistic vision of America that President Barack Obama painted in his State of the Union address earlier this week.
“I don’t think Americans are going to have a good reaction”.
When asked if the one-time “bromance” between the two men was over, Trump said, “I guess it is”.
Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said she’d use her bump from the main stage to her advantage. His best moment came toward the end when he refused to let Rubio interrupt and said, ‘You had your chance and you blew it.’ Christie and Rubio were both solid when they had the floor.
And although Trump answered more questions than any other candidate – 18 – his talking time ran 17 minutes, 58 seconds, according to the AP.
The city’s other tabloid, the New York Post, also confronted Cruz on his “New York values” dig.
“No place on earth could have handled that more beautifully, more humanely than New York”, Mr Trump said.
Cruz said in the debate: “everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media”.
Trump and Cruz starred in Thursday’s primetime event. He’s tried to muddy the water on immigration against Cruz before, and it hasn’t achieved anything.
But anger seemed to be all over the stage at the North Charleston Coliseum in the swing state of SC, as hopefuls such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and US Senator Marco Rubio from Florida squabbled among themselves.
“That is not consistent conservatism”, Rubio said.
Trump said he wasn’t offended by Haley’s speech and argued his anger is justified.
Trump also stuck with his controversial call for temporarily banning Muslims from the United States because of fear of terrorism emanating from overseas. He said he had no regrets about the proposal and noted that his poll numbers rose after he announced the plan. And if … we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason.
Florida senator Marco Rubio went even further, saying Mrs Clinton was “disqualified for being commander in chief”, accusing her of mishandling classified information and lying to the families of Americans killed in the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
Tonight’s debate was all or nothing for most candidates in the race.
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No, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul didn’t change his mind and show up for Thursday’s 6 p.m. undercard round. “The polling, the support, it is more and more looking like it is Donald Trump and me”, Cruz said in an interview on the Fox Business Network after the debate.
