Donald Trump suggested he could shoot someone in a crowded area and still keep voters, speaking at a rally in Iowa Saturday.
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“I’m excited to see the big crowds because of the big energy that comes with it”, Grassley told the crowd, but he did not endorse Trump, although he did borrow the candidate’s theme. Latest polls showed that he has taken a lead over his nearest Republican rival Ted Cruz.
The Fox poll also has Trump, Cruz and Rubio in the three top spots.
In his speech, which ripped into Donald Trump as much as it gushed about Cruz, Beck said Trump had to “apologize” to the conservative movement for being arrogant and self-centered and for clashing with the Tea Party. The issue includes a devastating editorial that calls Trump a threat to conservatism, as well as essays by almost two dozen prominent conservatives who oppose Trump’s candidacy.
Trump later went on to bash his fellow Republican 2016 candidates, calling the supporters of contenders like Ted Cruz “soft”.
But the target voter is Mark Claassen, 62, a drilling contractor here in the front row at the community center table who first goaded Cruz to attack Trump.
“I can say I have no intention of shooting anybody in this campaign”.
CNN noted Saturday did not mark the first time Trump had joked about violence during his campaign: In December, Trump declared he wouldn’t murder any reporters, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has allegedly done, before raising his voice as if he were changing his mind.
“And I wouldn’t even complain because he was born in Canada”, Trump said.
Rubio recently stepped up his Iowa campaign appearances in hopes of breaking Cruz and Trump’s hold on the state in an effort to put himself in a stronger position leading into New Hampshire’s February 9 primary. In Iowa, about 20 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa said they would refuse to vote for Trump over a Democrat in the general election, compared to 11 percent who said the same about Cruz.
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NPR’s Don Gonyea reports that so far, the reaction to Trump’s remarks has followed a familiar pattern.
