Thursday night’s debate underscored that the competition between Trump and Cruz will be rough-and-tumble in the days leading up to the February 1 Iowa caucuses, a shift from the relative civility that’s defined their relationship until now.
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Underscoring the split in the party that has defined the turbulent Republican primary, the more mainstream candidates on stage fought to edge their way into the debate.
Fox Business Network hosted the event, and the main debate, which began at 9 p.m. Eastern, featured seven candidates – frontrunner Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Instead of preying upon American’s economic anxieties or their irrational fear of Muslims and Mexicans, Trump invoked the spirit of New Yorkers after 9/11. “And the people in NY fought and fought and fought and we saw more death and even the smell of death…” “And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everyone in the world watched and loved NY and New Yorkers”.
Trump has been bringing up Cruz’s citizenship as an issue for some time.
“This was without a doubt Trump’s strongest debate performance”, says Republican strategist Ford O’Connell.
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.
Mr Cruz renewed his criticism of Mr Trump’s “New York values”, a coded questioning of Mr Trump’s conservatism that elicited an unexpectedly emotional response from the real estate mogul about the city’s response to the September 11 2001 attacks. Trump goes through the litany of themes that have endeared him to populist Republicans across the nation in the ad, titled “Our Country”.
Conventional wisdom held that Cruz was positioning himself as Trump’s best friend.
Building on his recent surge in the polls, Cruz elevated himself as he went toe to toe with The Donald – indicating a two-man race might be in the offing. Thursday night, he was unapologetic in his response to why suddenly he had changed tack.
Reminded that he once called Trump and his proposal unhinged, Bush replied: “Yeah, they are unhinged”.
“I’ll tell you, I’m not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump”, Cruz said. And while Trump’s performance was certainly strong, but we may just have seen the first chink in his armor – thanks to Cruz, and the end of their super sad love story.
All the witty comebacks aside, the debate amplified issues that could loom large in the final weeks before voting starts. But the Supreme Court hasn’t previously considered the eligibility question.
The Cruz birther charge also isn’t going away. (Cruz called Professor Tribe a “left-wing judicial activist” and “a major Hillary Clinton supporter.”) But as long as doubts linger, and Democrats threaten to sue if Cruz is on the ticket (which some have), then it’s an issue for the Texan.
Kasich was given regular questions by the moderators but was not engaged by the other candidates as much as Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Christie. And Rubio’s presence is good for Trump.
In a matchup between Trump and Rubio, the Florida senator received 45 percent to Trump’s 52 percent. But in a three-way contest, Trump wins with 40 percent, Cruz is second at 31 percent, and Rubio in third at 26 percent.
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“She’s under investigation with the FBI right now”, Bush said, adding that the country should avoid a situation with a president who “might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse”.
