Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took off the gloves on Monday and tore into each other.
While they had praised each other throughout 2015, the two candidates have increasingly been mixing up as was evident in Saturday’s night debate in South Carolina. Currently most polls at the national level and in South Carolina, which holds its primary on Saturday, have Trump in the lead with Cruz in second. Cruz won the Iowa caucus ahead of Trump who bounced back to win the New Hampshire primary.
Cruz launched a new TV ad on Monday in which he takes aim at Trump on social issues. The ad features a clip of Trump on “Meet the Press” taking about his support of abortion rights.
“Life, marriage, religious liberty, the Second Amendment,” the narrator of the ad says before reminding voters that there is currently an open spot on the U.S. Supreme Court after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia over the weekend. “We’re just one Supreme Court Justice away from losing them all.
“I’m very pro-choice," Trump says in the ad, noting he would not ban partial birth abortion. “I am pro-choice in every respect.”
“We cannot trust Donald Trump with these serious decisions,” the announcer says.
Trump fired back on Monday, hitting Cruz in very personal terms.
“Ted Cruz is a totally unstable individual,” Trump said. “He is the single biggest liar I’ve ever come across, in politics or otherwise, and I have seen some of the best of them. His statements are totally untrue and completely outrageous. It is hard to believe a person who proclaims to be a Christian could be so dishonest and lie so much.
“Cruz said I would be appointing a liberal judge when in fact I will appoint a great conservative and I am the only candidate who has gone so far, at the debate, as to suggest two individuals I feel would best represent the conservative values we need to protect: William ‘Bill’ Pryor Jr. and Diane Sykes," Trump added. “Cruz says I am pro-choice, when in fact I am staunchly pro-life and have been for a long time. Like Ronald Reagan, on many issues, I have evolved.
“Cruz says I am in favor of Obamacare, when in fact I have spoken about repealing and replacing this disaster of a system at every speech throughout my campaign and since it’s inception,” Trump continued before trying to link his rival to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts. “Meanwhile, Cruz was responsible for getting Bush to put in the judge that failed to vote against Obamacare twice.
“Cruz says I will try to take away your second amendment rights, when I am one of the strongest proponents of the right to bear arms and I say so in every speech that I have made for years. I am a proud member of the NRA and so are my sons," Trump said. “Cruz has become unhinged and is lying with the hopes that his statements will go unchecked until after the election and he will save his failing campaign."
Like he did on Saturday night, Trump insisted Cruz’s campaign had spread lies about Dr. Ben Carson on the night of the Iowa caucus.
“In Iowa, Cruz told thousands of Ben Carson voters that Dr. Carson had left the race and to instead vote for Ted Cruz,” Trump said. “He apologized when the race was over. Likewise, his fraudulent voter violation form sent to Iowa voters. If Ted is going to continue to lie with such desperation, I have no choice but to fight back. One of the ways I can fight back is to bring a lawsuit against him relative to the fact that he was born in Canada and therefore cannot be president. If he doesn’t take down his false ads and retract his lies, I will do so immediately. Additionally, the RNC should intervene and if they don’t they are in default of their pledge to me.
“I am the strongest on the borders and I will build a wall, and it will be a real wall. I am strongest on illegal immigration, strongest on ISIS, strongest on the military and I will take care of our vets,” Trump concluded. “I will end Common Core and preserve the Second Amendment. I will renegotiate our trade deals and bring our jobs back to our country. I am the only person who will ‘Make America Great Again.'"
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
