Trump and Cruz trade blows as bickering gets ‘nasty’

Republican candidates will take the stage in Des Moines, Iowa, two days before voters go to caucus in the Hawkeye State.

Republican presidential contender Donald Trump on Sunday said he’d consider filing a lawsuit challenging GOP rival Ted Cruz’ constitutional eligibility to be president, based on his birth in Canada.

Heidi Cruz, a Goldman Sachs executive, is a long-time admirer of Trump’s Apprentice, in which aspiring business people competed for a job bestowed by the NY billionaire. “By asking the question about Cruz’s ability to run and raising the possibility that a potential Democratic legal challenge could knock a candidate Cruz out of the race, he’s managed to place a seed of doubt into Republican primary voters” minds.

He said that evangelical Christians, many of whom sat out presidential elections in 2008 and 2012, could help catapult him to victory.

Mr Cruz said he wouldn’t engage in a “cage match” with Mr Trump, tweeting that the New Yorker was “terrific”. Marco Rubio speaks at a campaign event January 16, 2016 in Iowa, where he is trying to stay in the running with Trump and Cruz.

“He explained that on abortion, he is very, very pro-choice”, Cruz recalled Monday.

“If we stand together as we the people, we will restore this last best hope for mankind, the shining city on the hill that is the United States of America”, Cruz said.

Trump and Cruz are atop the field in Iowa, where voters caucus February 1. Bernie Sanders with a touch of Trump, “is they think the system is rigged more than I can remember”.

Since he wasn’t in politics at the time, it might have been weird for Trump to get involved in the immigration fight, but Cruz noted that he also leaned left on issues closer to his own industry.

Cruz questioned whether Trump is a true conservative, noting donations he’s made to Democrats over the years, including $50,000 in 2010 to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff to President Barack Obama. Then New York values are just great, those people have great values I’m sure when they are writing him seven- and eight-figure checks.

Since then Trump has attacked the senator as a hypocrite and a “nasty man”. “Behind the scene, I think that a lot of leaders don’t want to support him, they’d rather prefer Ted Cruz”, she said.

Cruz, who has shed all caution about attacking Trump after months of playing nice, continued to aggressively bash Trump in media appearances, while giving him a light touch in front of audiences on the trail. Trump called Cruz a “very nasty guy” whom nobody could work with in Washington.

Cruz insists he will not turn the battle with Trump into a personal war, sticking closely to policy contrasts. “Donald Trump doesn’t care, he can literally say anything to get what he wants”. The Texas senator has dismissed the criticism as a non-issue, but Trump has only doubled down.