All of it left some Republicans anxious that time to stop Trump, or Cruz from seizing the inside track on the nomination was evaporating and that the establishment candidates were doing little to slow either man’s momentum.
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But the business mogul stood firm, noting that a Harvard law scholar had raised doubts and Mr Cruz could face lawsuits by Democrats wishing to challenge his qualification.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and top challenger Ted Cruz ended a longstanding truce in spectacular fashion on Thursday night with bitter exchanges during what may have been Trump’s strongest debate performance to date.
Trump repeatedly dismissed the nuanced arguments of his peers in favor of the blunt and forceful assertions that have made the billionaire the party’s national front-runner. It was perhaps Trump’s best debate moment, and Cruz’s worst. That notion deeply stirs some Republicans who still haven’t conceded President Barack Obama was born in this country (he was). The debate was one of two final opportunities for the candidates to lay out their visions for the country ahead of the February 1 Iowa caucuses.
Graham noted that Bush was the lone candidate in Thursday’s debate to explicitly reject Trump’s continued call to indefinitely ban non-citizen Muslims from entering the United States.
Cruz argues that because his mother is American, he became a USA citizen at birth. When he attacks NY and he attacks New Yorkers – in light of what they did and the way they suffered – I thought it was very disgraceful.
“Everyone understands that the values in New York City, are socially liberal or pro abortion or pro gay marriage, focus around money and the media”, said Cruz.
But on the debate stage on Thursday night, Mr Cruz said there was “zero chance” of a lawsuit succeeding because the Constitution’s definition of “natural born citizens” included people born to an American parent.
“There are voices, sometimes very loud voices”, Donohue said, “who talk about walling off America from talent and trade and who are attacking whole groups of people based not on their conduct but on their ethnicity or religion”. Plenty of Iowans love NY, but Cruz is appealing to one of the most fiercely regressive slices of voters in the United States. “We rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved NY and loved New Yorkers”. A spokeswoman for the senator, Alice Stewart, charged that Trump’s invocation of the September 11 attacks “reeks of desperation”.
“Donald Trump will damage the ability to grow this party”. Florida governor Jeb Bush presented himself as a voice of reason against Mr Trump.
But in New Hampshire right now, “the mainstream Republicans are as splintered and scattered as ever”, Cullen said, leaving open the possibility that Trump could win that state as well.
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Cruz said Trump brought all this up because he’s slipped in polls.
