The leader, of course has been Donald Trump, but try not to picture him in Lycra. But when asked to clarify his comments after the rally, he refused to comment. But with voting beginning in just over a week, his durability atop preference polls has pushed some donors, strategists and party elders to grudgingly accept the prospect of his winning the nomination.
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With obvious exaggeration, he charged that one Republican candidate, “for over 60 years of his life”, supported so-called partial-birth abortion and a “Bernie Sanders-style socialized medicine for all”. The CBS poll showed the same top three for the Republicans. “We’ve got to do something different”.
Trump’s Republican rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz did not approve of the billionaire’s choice of metaphorical expression, vowing that during his own campaign he has “no intention of shooting anybody”. Trump is also gaining, and taking the lead, in Iowa, with former frontrunner Ted Cruz still putting up a strong challenge.
“This kind of hubris is beyond imagination”, Beck said in response to Trump’s comment, adding that to give “that man the whole power and scope of the office of presidency is something that we will grow to regret”.
“I believe that we are a nation of laws and not of men”. Ted Cruz with 23 percent and Florida Sen. The senator accuses the tycoon of being an opportunist with no real attachment to conservative values.
Beck’s endorsement comes as Cruz and Trump increase their attacks on one another. He concluded the apparent bit by seeming to decide, “No, I would never kill them”.
Even as he’s taken up the anti-establishment mantle, Trump has made some quiet overtures to GOP powerbrokers. Cruz is still over-performing with conservatives and tea partiers (meaning that his support among those groups is 11 and seven points higher than his overall support), but Trump gained 11 and 17 points with those groups over the past two weeks.
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Gov. Chris Christie was tied with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for sixth place with 4 percent.
Cruz’s message has resonated with voters in New Hampshire and Iowa. Pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson was leading in polls of Iowa Republicans in October, but since Oct. 31, polls have showed either Trump or Cruz in the lead.
Trump is so confident that his supporters will stick with him, he now believes that he could shoot people in the middle of New York City and not lose any support.
Stacks of yard signs await more than 1,000 Ted Cruz supporters at a rally January 23, 2016, in Ankeny, Iowa.
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And the support for bailouts and stimulus after the 2008 economic crash – those, Cruz said, suggest a candidate who would never stand up to the “Washington cartel”.
