Cruz Threatens To Leave Fox News Debate Stage Over ‘Mean Questions’

Thom, who raises Alaskan Malamute and Pomalute puppies in Minnesota, and plans to spend Monday in Iowa volunteering for Trump, dismissed Cruz as “a Canadian born citizen” and described the Texas senator, as well as the other GOP contenders as “weak”.

“I’m a maniac, and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly”, joked Cruz, in an effort to, as he put it, get “the Donald Trump portion” of the program out of the way.

By dodging the debate, and trying to run out the clock on the Iowa caucus, trump revealed – once again – how unpresidential he is.

A spokeswomen for Trump’s campaign did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The tycoon took the stage at his own event, just a few kilometres from his rivals and about 15 minutes after the Republican debate began.

“Let’s address the elephant not in the room tonight”.

His absence, after a dust-up with the network over Megyn Kelly’s participation as moderator of the debate, was noted at the outset, but then the candidates moved on with sharp exchanges on topics such as the best way to fight ISIS and what to do about immigration.

“The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate“.

Absent Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidates strained to take advantage of a rare opportunity to step out of the front-runner’s shadow in Thursday night’s debate – a staid, policy-heavy contest that offered a glimpse of what the GOP contest might have been without the unpredictable businessman.

Mr Trump has feuded with Fox News for months, particularly its anchor and debate moderator Megyn Kelly.

Trump told his audience that he had spent a good part of the day talking with Fox about the posibility of taking part in the debate. Trump called it an insult, and said he wouldn’t attend Fox’s debate.

He predicted that out of all the candidates, Senator Cruz could benefit the most from Trump’s absence due to his strength with Evangelical Christian voters in Iowa.

Chris Christie argues a point during a Republican presidential primary debate on Thursday.

Trump may have missed out on a chance to reach Iowans, but members of the crowd of 775 endorsed his alternative event. “The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you’ve been willing to say or do anything to get votes”.

Trump dominated social media during the debate, leading the entire Republican pack in Twitter mentions throughout the first half of the debate, according to data from social media analytics firm Zoomph.

Four candidates appeared earlier in an undercard debate: former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Republicans “don’t have time for these kinds of distractions”.