“Fortune” senior editor Nina Easton told viewers Friday on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that when it comes to the possibility of a brokered Republican convention in Cleveland next summer, “the [party] establishment’s problem is not just Donald Trump, it’s Ted Cruz”.
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“Both of them I like and respect”, Cruz said in reference to Trump and Carson, as quoted by the Times. “That is what we need is a strong leader”.
“I don’t think there’s anything that could be worse for Republicans than Trump being our nominee”, says Doug Heye, a Republican strategist who has served as a former deputy chief of staff for Eric Cantor and a Republican National Committee official. “They are more focused on immigration and bringing immigrants in and not really focusing on the American citizens that are here”.
Cruz’s campaign spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier, declined to comment on Trump’s attacks. Or, as Trump calls them, “bosses”.
The ouster of Assad, Cruz said, could result in “radical jihadis” controlling Syria, leading to more problems for the United States. “As you’ve seen in the polls, he’s beginning to rise”. He has refrained from criticizing Trump for fear of alienating the front-runner’s supporters.
Trump’s personal attack mirrors a previous joust at one-time top Iowa rival Ben Carson, who is a Seventh Day Adventist. Trump predicted Cruz would “fall like all others”. Trump, who identifies as Presbyterian, implied that he was a more mainstream Christian. “The people looking for the outsider will find him appealing and they will find him [Cruz] similar to Trump without some of Trump’s [problems]”. Trump reiterated he likes the senator and said “we would certainly have things in mind for Ted”. “Will be easy!” wrote Trump. Before this recent poll, Trump had bee pulling in between 20 and 33 percent support.
“But I’m with you”, Trump told his supporters, noting he toured ethanol plants in Iowa last month.
“It is real, it is growing, and it is profoundly risky”, Cruz said during a foreign policy address at The Heritage Foundation. “Now people are starting to perceive Cruz as not much different about being anti-Washington and he even has a phrase, which was pretty smart to come out with – the Washington cartel”. “We will do whatever it takes to help him be successful to go up against Hillary Clinton”.
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Like a cross-country runner or Tour de France cyclist, Cruz is drafting off Trump by offering a almost identical ideological agenda without the media attention and controversy.
