The Republican field was for months a large and unwieldly collection of candidates seeking to put the party back in the White House for the first time in eight years.
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US Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio has come under attack from his rivals who are challenging him for the nomination to run for the White House. “I didn’t take the property”, Trump said.
“You have not been involved in a consequential decision where you have had to be held accountable”, Mr. Christie said. “Marco, the thing is this”, Christie said during one heated exchange early in the night, “when you’re president of the United States, when you’re a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn’t solve one problem for one person”. “You just simply haven’t”, Christie said. “Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a president of the United States, but we’ve tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and … we didn’t get a leader, we got someone who wants to divide the country up”. In contrast, Ohio Governor John Kasich had his best performance with millennials, earning a 41.4 approval rating, and maintaining the largest share of the conversation on Yik Yak. Under relentless attack from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who likened him to Barack Obama in 2008 as an inexperienced lightweight in over his head, Rubio found himself defaulting to the exact same sound bite four times over – and I mean exact. Trump said he would bring back waterboarding and interrogation tactics “a hell of a lot worse”; Christie said he would pursue drug criminals across the Mexican border even without cooperation of the Mexican government; and Bush said he would consider a pre-emptive military strike against North Korea.
Christie also slammed Rubio’s poor attendance record in the Senate. The governor added, “It gets very ugly when [Rubio] gets off his talking points”. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in his closing statement at the ABC News Republican debate Saturday night.
“When this transpired”, Cruz said, “I apologized to him then and I do so now: Ben, I’m sorry”. The real estate mogul cited his comments opposing the war in Iraq because it would destabilize the Middle East. “And I’m the only one up here that can say that”. “I’m not one with a trigger”, Trump said.
“I believe that all human life is worthy of protection”.
The champion college debater wasn’t much of a factor after a rough start to the debate, when he was asked about Trump’s temperament and allegations his campaign team engaged in “deceitful behavior” by suggesting in the moments before the Iowa caucuses started that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was leaving the race. Carson said he would be in the race for the long haul. “Well, guess what, I’m still here, and I’m not going anyplace either”. He said he had the most-detailed immigration reform plan, including building a wall along the Mexican border, to which Trump chuckled.
Trump said eminent domain was “a good thing” and was necessary to building roads, bridges, schools and hospitals. “That is not public objective, that is downright wrong”.
Jeb Bush attacks Donald Trump over property acquisitions to build casinos in Atlantic City.
Bush did seem more eager to take on Trump, his favorite foe, over the legal issue of eminent domain.
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“That’s all of his donors and special interests out there”, Trump quipped.
