In first attacks, Trump ends peace with Cruz

You look at the way he’s dealt with the Senate, where he goes in there like a – you know, frankly like a little bit of a maniac. “But not a lot of Evangelicals come out of Cuba, in all fairness”. “I hope it’s not going to be that way”. “And I think that is a question that is a challenging question for both of them”.

Trump, who’s topped GOP national surveys since July, takes a beating against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, with the former secretary of state claiming 50% to Trump’s 40%, according an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Monday.

Cruz was reported by the New York Times this week to have questioned at a closed-door fundraiser Trump’s judgment, a departure from his public refusal to attack Trump.

“I think he’s the only one who can make things great again”, Solberg said. For NPR News, I’m Clay Masters in Des Moines.

“Everything I say he agrees with me, no matter what I say”, Trump said, picking up on television ads from the ethanol lobby attacking Cruz for opposing the industry’s favorite subsidy, the Renewable Fuel Standard.

He wasted no time in tearing in to Cruz – & the poll – throughout an Iowa stop Friday. night.

White evangelical Christians are a significant voting bloc in Iowa and they also put Cruz on top, although by a narrower margin.

Trump made the comments after he warned Cruz would “fall like the others” if he chose to attack the billionaire.

Noticeably absent from Trump’s Friday remarks: promises to temporarily ban Muslims from the United States, although he was asked at one point about Syrian refugees coming into the country by way of the Southern border.

TRUMP: He’s got to come a long way ’cause he’s right now for the oil, but I understand it. Oil pays him a lot of money.

Cruz garners 28 percent support and Trump 26 percent among GOP likely caucus-goers.

In the six caucuses since 1980 where an incumbent Republican president has not been running, Iowa Republicans have supported the eventual nominee only twice: Bob Dole from nearby Kansas in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000.

“So explain that Ted Cruz”, Black added, mimicking an accusatory voice Rubio might use in the debate.

“If we win, they can’t do anything”, he said.

The real estate mogul also took shots at Chris Christie, who is hot off an endorsement by the New Hampshire Union Leader and on the rise in the Granite state. “It’s no surprise a candidate like this – who never went without health care – wants to repeal it and throw these people back into emergency rooms and clinics”, she said.