Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump (left) and Senator Ted Cruz participate in the Fox Business Network Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday. — AFP
Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump (left) and Senator Ted Cruz participate in the Fox Business Network Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday. — AFP
Republican presidential frontrunner 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 Mr Trump’s strongest debate performance to date.
The New York billionaire and the Texas Senator appeared to have a split decision by the end of the night, a sign that for all the bluster, little took place that could derail Mr Trump from his lead position with a contest in Iowa on February 1 to begin the search for a Republican presidential nominee.
Projections that the debate would be a free-for-all were accurate. Beyond the Trump-Cruz theatrics, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida turned in a pugnacious performance with attacks on Mr Cruz and New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Florida governor Jeb Bush presented himself as a voice of reason against Mr Trump.
Mr Trump refused to budge over his call to ban all Muslims from entering the US even as rivals questioned his controversial stance, with Mr Bush wondering if the frontrunner also meant banning Muslims from countries like India and Indonesia which are strong allies of the US.
“Are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are our strong allies, that we need to build better relationships with Of course not. What we need to do is destroy ISIS,” Mr Bush said. Mr Trump responded by saying, “We have to stop with political correctness.”
With Mr Trump now needing to fend off Mr Cruz’s rise in Iowa, he pushed his charge that Mr Cruz may not be constitutionally qualified to serve as President because he was born in Canada. The US Constitution says only “natural born” citizens can become President of the United States.
“Who the hell knows if you can even serve in office ” Mr Trump told Mr Cruz, drawing a scattering of boos in the audience.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, to a US citizen mother and a Cuban father, Mr Cruz accused Mr Trump of bringing up his birthplace simply because Mr Cruz was leading some polls in Iowa.
Mr Cruz said Mr Trump, who led the movement questioning whether the Hawaiian-born President Barack Obama was really from the United States, had asked his lawyers to look into the issue of Mr Cruz’s birth in September and concluded there were no issues.
“Since September, the Constitution hasn’t changed, but the poll numbers have,” Mr Cruz said.
“And I recognise that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are dropping in Iowa,” he added.
Mr Trump said Democrats would sue if Mr Cruz were on the Republican ticket.
