Afterward, Trump called it a “very elegant debate, very substantive” and correctly noted that Republicans needed that – especially after the grotesque clown show last week in Detroit.
Advertisement
Though the GOP candidates have been eyeing Florida and its 99 delegates for months, none of Trump’s rivals was expected to campaign aggressively in the state the next few days, facing the strong possibility of a Trump romp there on Tuesday.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio fired back at Trump calling his stance “an anti-Israeli policy”, and asserted his own belief that any territory transferred to the Palestinians would turn into an attack on Israel.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Florida voters are increasingly voicing a similar take on Republican front-runner Donald Trump: “Dice lo que piensa” – Spanish for “he speaks his mind”. “The problem is presidents can’t just say anything they want because it has consequences around the world”.
However, Conant’s interview is a remarkable sign of how dominant Trump has become in the GOP primary.
Rather, he said, the Republican establishment had created “an environment where somebody like a Donald Trump can thrive”.
Trump will nearly certainly win the most delegates, followed by Cruz in a distant second.
“I can’t believe how civil it’s been up here”, Trump declared at one point in Thursday’s face-off of the GOP’s final four. Rubio doesn’t promise to protect Social Security the way Trump does, but the root problem facing both their economic agendas is that the centerpieces are massive and wildly irresponsible tax cuts that create yawning budget deficits in order to funnel wealth to the richest Americans. On the environment, Kasich said “I do believe we contribute to climate change, but I don’t think it has to be. either you’re for some environmental stringent rules or, you know, you’re not going to have any jobs”.
“If you want to stop Trump in Ohio, Kasich’s the only guy who can beat him there”, Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said.
“What I’m not going to do is to validate some notion that the Republican crackup that’s been taking place is a effect of actions that I’ve taken”, Obama said in the Rose Garden, citing conspiracy theories about his birth certificate as Exhibit A.
In all, 367 Republican delegates will be at stake, with voting also occurring in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and the Northern Mariana Islands.
During a discussion on social security, Trump said he wouldn’t need to touch the key entitlement, which is running out of money, until it approaches its expected insolvency in 22 years, claiming he could keep the program afloat until then by simply cutting “fraud and abuse”.
Cruz allied himself with Trump at the start of a sentence, saying that, based on the primary results thus far, “Donald is right: there are only two of us who have a path to the presidency, Donald and myself”, but by the end of that sentence, he leveled his Trump attack: “If you nominate Donald Trump, Hillary wins”. He was clearly intent on projecting a less bombastic – and more presidential – image. “We’re going to find the answer to things”.
“We’re all in this together”, he said early on, sounding more like a conciliator than a provocateur as he strives to unify the party behind his candidacy.
However, both Rubio and Kasich are already well-behind in the delegates race.
Still, she said, the race is rapidly becoming a two-man contest, and Rubio isn’t one of the two.
“As far as Florida’s concerned, we feel good, we’re making progress, we have real momentum here now”, Rubio said Friday. However, Kasich was only behind Trump by 2 percentage points, while Rubio is 14 percentage points behind the brash billionaire.
Advertisement
Trump also addressed the issue of violence at his rallies, following the arrest of a man who punched a protester in the face in a chaotic scene at one of his campaign events.
