“I just said wow, that is really great”, Trump said of winning Christie’s support. “They’re losing by massive amounts”.
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Rubio hit out at Trump over his business record and an ongoing lawsuit concerning Trump University. “He is wholly unprepared to be president of the United States”.
Still, Trump went after the audience, again calling them a group of lobbyists, special interests, donors and “insurance people” who don’t like him because he is self-funded and not beholden to their wishes.
Donald Trump’s Republican rivals launched an all-out assault to try to slow his juggernaut-like momentum in the last presidential debate before a vote that could decide the contest. Each scheduled campaign events in Texas before heading to Oklahoma City.
Ahead of the debate, Cruz had an 8-percent lead over national front-runner Trump, according to a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll published February 23. That all changed in Houston. Cruz was happy to pile on, too, questioning the front-runner’s conservative credentials, foreign policy savvy and electability. “Selling watches in Manhattan”.
“If he builds the wall the way he built Trump Towers, he’ll be using illegal immigrant labor to do it”, Rubio said of Trump”.
Rubio accused Trump of shifting his position on immigration, and for hiring illegal immigrants at his hotels. Both Rubio and Cruz said Trump had to pay a $1 million fine for illegally hiring immigrants. It was a rare night in which the bombastic Trump found himself on the defensive. In a back-and-forth over the next United States Supreme Court justice appointment to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died earlier this month, Cruz attacked Trump, saying he would “cut a deal, rather than fight for someone who won’t cut a deal on the Constitution. Other than that I rest my case”. The Texas senator said Trump wasn’t releasing his tax returns “because he’s afraid”, and he argued that Trump wouldn’t be an effective opponent against Hillary Clinton in the general election. Trump was asked to respond to Former Mexican President Vincente Fox’s statement about Trump’s plan to build a Mexican border wall at Mexico’s expense. “He should be ashamed of himself and he should apologise”, declared Trump.
“The promise of America is that our system, when we follow the right formula, is going to give opportunity for everyone”, Kasich said.
Rubio also expressed confidence that he will win his home state of Florida, despite some polls that show him falling far behind.
Making light of Cruz’s repeated attempts to diminish him, Trump said: “Keep fighting, keep swinging, man, swing for the fences”. “We can beat Donald Trump but we are running out of time”. “Trump is Goliath, and we’ve seen enough of the other candidates to know there are no Davids in this field”.
Mr Trump shot back: “I’m the only one [here] who’s hired people”.
The other two remaining candidates, Ben Carson and John Kasich, were largely left to watch the fireworks flying overhead.
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The leaders acknowledged that not all of Rubio’s immigration views are acceptable to the community – such as letting the deportation relief program DACA expire.
