Trump, seeking to blunt Bush in a state where his dynastic family remains popular, went after the former Florida governor on foreign policy and immigration, and lambasted Jeb’s brother president George W. Bush’s war in Iraq as “a big fat mistake”.
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Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Along the way, Trump also called Cruz was “the single biggest liar on stage”, adding that the senator was “a nasty guy”.
Here are some of the top moments and takeaways from the debate. Trump said Obama should put forth a nominee, but Republicans in the Senate should delay confirmation.
“It’s called delay, delay, delay”, he said. But he admitted that, “I believe the president should not move forward, and we should let the next president decide” on a replacement.
Rubio said the “Constitution is not a living and breathing document” and that it should be applied strictly as it is written.
That was after Cruz insisted – repeatedly and incorrectly – that “we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year”.
But the Senate confirmed Anthony Kennedy, nominated by President Ronald Reagan, on February 3, 1988, an election year.
Heading into the debate, Trump was taking swipes at Cruz and Bush, who finished third and fourth in the New Hampshire primary.
If Cruz “doesn’t clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen”, Trump wrote. “They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction and there were none”.
Jeb Bush hit back strongly, saying, “I’m sick and exhausted of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems” he faces. “That’s not keeping us safe”.
Trump lashed back, saying it was under Bush’s watch that the World Trade Centers fell on September 11, 2001.
“I thank God that George W. Bush was president when 9/11 happened, and I thank God it wasn’t Al Gore”, Rubio said.
The outspoken reality TV star has faded into the background at some recent debates – something that probably helped more than hurt him.
Bush provoked another outburst from Trump by saying the Republican nominee should be someone “who doesn’t brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times”. And he added that previously when he’d been bleeped out for allegedly using the F-word, he had not actually said it. “Lindsey graham, who had zero in his polls”.
Trump is getting booed frequently, by the way – by “special interests” for Bush and other rivals.
I don’t think Trump had a good night, but the polls suggest he has plenty of margin for error (though this was true in Iowa too, at one point). Maryanne Trump Barry supports abortion rights, and Trump says she wouldn’t be interested, though.
After South Carolina next week, the rest of the states will have their turn over the coming weeks and months.
“Vato, si quieres dicelo ahora mismo, dicelo ahora en Español si quieres”, Cruz told Rubio, according to an ABC News transcript, which translates to, “Dude, if you want to tell them now, tell them now in Spanish, if you want”.
There are big divides in the GOP on immigration, beyond just Trump’s heated rhetoric and his repeated exhortations that Mexico will pay for his vaunted border wall.
“Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama’s illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office”, Cruz said.
Rubio’s retort: “Well, first of all, I don’t know how he knows what I said on Univision because he doesn’t speak Spanish”.
Cruz responded in Spanish but was largely drowned out by the audience.
Republican presidential candidate, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson speaks during the CBS News Republican presidential debate at the Peace Center, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, in Greenville, S.C.
The New Hampshire primary, swept by Trump who won 35% of the vote, weeded out two candidates, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina.
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“This is just nuts”, Kasich interjected.
