Of course, slurring the original city of immigrants has always served as a thin scrim for traditional anti-Semitism, which is what Cruz evoked with his remark about “money and media” at the Republican debate on Thursday evening. Cruz was trying to discount Donald Trump’s alignment with the Republican Party.
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A veteran attorney in Ted Cruz’s hometown of Houston has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Canadian-born senator’s eligibility to be president.
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump speaks in the spin room after the Fox Business Network Republican presidential debate at the North Charleston Coliseum, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in North Charleston, S.C.
“It was with us for months”, Trump said.
But if Cruz continues to eat into Trump’s support by winning Iowa and picking up Trump supporters in South Carolina, Nevada and elsewhere, you can bet Trump will call in his lawyers.
Surely Cruz didn’t intend to offend all 19 million of us in the Empire State; more likely, he was only thinking of the 8.4 million people who live in the five boroughs of New York City (you think he could name them?). It cheered the Texas senator and booed when a debate moderator and Trump dabbled in the country-of-origin quandary. Heck, Trump said, if he picks Cruz as his running mate, Democrats will sue “because we can’t take him along for the ride”.
The jab appeared to be an attempt to dismantle Trump’s identity as a conservative, but many said it backfired after an emotional response from Trump, who was born and raised in Queens. “I think it’s disturbing for all Americans – not just NY”, he told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day”. “I spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court and I’m not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump”, Cruz said.
Shortly thereafter comes this gem: “The U.S. Constitution is not a popularity document for fair weather only”. I think it’s really going to backfire on him. There was nothing to this birther issue. “I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa”.
The other heated exchange came when Trump questioned whether Cruz is legally allowed to become the country’s commander in chief. Instead, the real estate magnate said to Cruz: “There’s a big question mark on your head”.
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“There are many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York, but everyone understands that the values of New York City are socially liberal, or pro-abortion, or pro-gay-marriage, focused around money and the media”, Cruz said. When Roe advised his former boss, Congressman Sam Graves, in a 2008 election against former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes, the Graves campaign aired an infamous ad accusing Barnes of sharing “San Francisco values”. As he has done since the concerns first came up, Cruz brushed aside the legal questions during the debate, making a not-so-veiled swipe at what he thinks is Trump’s true motivation for bringing it up.
