Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said at Thursday’s GOP presidential debate he was referring to “socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage” attitudes when he said his rival Donald Trump had “New York values”.
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The sixth debate of the GOP field was a more than two-hour gathering focused on economic, domestic and global policy and featured the top seven candidates based on polling. The song choice was widely seen as an effort to mock Cruz, since Trump has been raising the question of whether the fact that Cruz was born in Canada could affect his eligibility to become president.
When Cruz was asked to clear up the issue of him being eligible to for the presidency because of his birth in Canada, he argued there was no issue and he would not face any troubles.
Cruz pointed out that under that definition, adopted by many Trump supporters, Rubio, Cruz, and Trump would be ineligible because Trump’s mother was born in Scotland.
“The Constitution hasn’t changed, but the poll numbers have”, Cruz said; Trump admitted he raised the issue because Cruz is catching up in the polls.
When moderators asked Ted Cruz about a recent New York Times piece on Cruz not disclosing a loan on a federal form, Cruz hit back. Instead, the real estate magnate said to Cruz: “There’s a big question mark on your head”. “The Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit”.
While there has been plenty of animosity between Trump and most of his rivals, the billionaire businessman and Cruz have been on largely friendly territory for much of the campaign season.
The event hosted by Fox Business Network comes after days of Mr Cruz and Mr Trump taking shots at each other, shattering a months-long period of goodwill between the two men. But the biting barb appeared to backfire, eliciting an unexpectedly emotional response from Trump about his hometown’s response to the September 11, 2001, attacks.
“I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made”, Trump said, drawing his own fair share of applause.
The rivalry between the Republican Party’s two leading candidates for president intensified in Thursday’s debate, which featured the most rollicking action to date. They are as close as they’ve been in competing for the lead in Iowa, according to polls, and Cruz is in second place in several other states. Social media monitoring tool Zoomph saw total positive mentions for Cruz climb by more than 150 per cent while he sparred with Trump.
Mr Trump is far ahead nationally.
Rubio will likely take fire for his role in the 2013 immigration debate, while even a strong performance from Bush may not be enough to allay concerns that his campaign is at risk of faltering. The query addressed Trump’s stance on Syrian refugees, which President Barack Obama referenced during his State of the Union speech Tuesday.
Mr Trump stuck with his controversial call for temporarily banning Muslims from the United States because of fear of terrorism emanating from overseas. Bush blasted Trump for his stance. Trump, who noted that his poll numbers rose after making that policy proposal, said his mind was made up. All three of the candidates were sharply critical of President Barack Obama on issues such as gun control, national security and the economy.
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Rubio, once viewed by the Republican establishment and many donors as a rising star, said Cruz was a political opportunist who was not a consistent conservative.
