In a sign of their increasing separation from the rest of the field, Trump and Cruz have spent the past week focused on tearing each other down, ending the de facto alliance they had maintained to this point in the race.
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Cruz hinted that Trump was “rattled” because Cruz was neck and neck with him in Iowa, according to several polls.
“Especially when you will have two candidates who have been very strong”.
Cruz has avoided any onstage attacks of Trump’s record since Thursday’s debate, when the two went after one another, instead unleashing his barbs for press gaggles after his events.
Though the real estate mogul did not try a slice of the Pizza Ranch’s pizza (or even a leg of its prided chicken) and stayed for less than 20 minutes, he did not leave empty handed.
“I’m glad everyone is talking about Rafael Eduardo Cruz”, Trump said.
“Who?” a man asked loudly.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was next at 11 percent, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 9 percent.
Rubio also condemned Senate colleague Cruz for supporting federal budgets that would decrease defense spending and for proposing a “European-style” value-added tax. “Senator Cruz is very weak on illegal immigration”, he said.
“I think we’re all Americans”, he said. He moved to the United States at age 4.
If Cruz predicts that the series will be tied as he and Trump clear the field, SC is being envisioned as the rubber match, the moment when Republicans are forced to decide between two self-stylized conservatives who have deep – but not dominant – appeal.
Dan Tripp, who running the group’s efforts here, pushed back on labeling what his troops are preparing for versus Trump as a “battle royale“, but he knew the state for Cruz wasn’t won they could risk losing. I like them both and they’re just really terrific people. “And that’s what the primary process is all about”, Cruz said. Policy issues, however, are fair game. The Trump campaign, however, has also been very unclear about how they would hypothetically replace Obamacare.
Cruz’s remarks to reporters in Fort Mill represented the sharpest escalation yet in his rhetoric against Trump after months of refusing to attack the billionaire.
“He explained in his views that he was pro-choice, he supported partial birth abortion, open to gay marriage, and his explanation for all that, he said, ‘I’m a New Yorker, I’m from Manhattan, ‘ ” Cruz said.
“That shows character”, he said. “I’d do the public a big favor”, Trump responded, but he would not say whether he’d actually file such a suit.
Following in the footsteps of recent Republican caucus winners, Trump made an impromptu stop at the Midwestern pizza buffet chain. “I think [Cruz] hurt himself and he deserved to, and Trump, gotta give him credit, was right on the money in his response”. “That’s not what Ronald Reagan did”. And he offered another one Monday, pointing to his pledge to cancel the country’s nuclear accord with Iran – which Trump has said in the past that he merely wants to honor and improve.
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“Ted Cruz, he’s got a lot of people putting big money in – probably maybe Goldman Sachs, we’ll have to ask. They’re bringing a lawsuit as soon as – if he got the nomination, they’d bring a lawsuit that he’s not eligible to run”.
