Trump, the front-runner who could tighten his grip on the Republican presidential nomination battle if he wins Florida and OH on Tuesday, defended his belief, as stated in television interviews, that followers of Islam “hate us”. It’s all part of the extraordinary tactics Donald Trump’s presidential foes are resorting to in last-ditch efforts to block the party’s front-runner.
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On CNN, Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Conant echoed that theme, saying: “If you are a Republican primary voter in OH and you want to defeat Donald Trump, your best chance in OH is John Kasich”. The announcement stated that while Trump supports the First and Second Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, “this is a private event paid for by Mr. Trump”, and protesters are not allowed inside. Trump leads his rivals in the all-important delegate count after 24 voting contests, thrusting Republican elites into a tailspin of hand-wringing and denial.
When pressed whether Rubio supporters there should in fact cast their ballots for Kasich, Conant said, “Yeah, my answer is John Kasich is the one candidate in OH that can beat Donald Trump”.
OH and Florida are two of five states that will hold primaries next Tuesday.
Much of the attention was on Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, who have together amassed more than 800 delegates to date.
Before heading to Missouri, Trump introduced a significant new ally at a news conference at his Palm Beach resort: retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who endorsed his former GOP rival and warned that a failure to rally behind him would “fracture the party in an irreparable way”.
Mr Trump shook his head and declared to the Miami audience at one point: “I can’t believe how civil it’s been up here”.
Marco Rubio on Friday ruled out teaming up with Ted Cruz to stop Donald Trump, calling it “stuff from like “House of Cards” and saying he was exclusively focused on winning the Republican nomination. “The Republican Party should grab this, and we will have a victory like the Republican Party has never had before”, he added, to cheers. “And you can’t win unless the party’s united”.
“We’re really getting carried away”, Kasich said when asked about the delegate race.
Mr Cruz said the NY billionaire’s tariff plan would only lead to higher prices for American consumers because companies from the exporting country would increase prices.
“I don’t think there’s any long-term permanent peace solution and I think pursuing that is the wrong thing to do”, said Kasich.
Trump’s expression of surprise about the civility of the debate could have been a moment of self-reflection. Their previous two meetings had been rife with personal attacks that, at times, became nearly juvenile, but on this night all four seemed intent on elevating the tone and tending to business. At tonight’s CNN Debate, Cruz spun a different take. Marco Rubio has reduced his campaign to a one-state operation this week, looking for that state’s 99 delegates.
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, too, will be competing on Tuesday, with Clinton out to regain momentum after her startling loss to Sanders in MI this week.
“If you go anywhere in the world you’re going see American men and women serving us in uniform that are Muslims”, he said.
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Ohio’s primary is on March 15 and Kasich has said that if he does not win, he will exit the presidential race.
