As Ted Cruz rises in Iowa poll, Donald Trump calls him ‘maniac’

Ted Cruz (R-Texas) criticized two of his competitors during a closed-door fundraising event. “Compared to Trump, he’s OK”.

Rubio has been rising in recent weeks in national and early state surveys, regularly finishing in the top three, but he has struggled to dent front-running Trump’s dominant polling lead.

“Every time the Des Moines Register does a poll, I always do badly”, Trump said, then acting out how he imagines the newspaper tallies its poll results and slips some of his votes into a pocket. Said the Republican: “It’s an interesting life – and everything’s relative”.

“There’s never been any wisdom in taking on Donald trump and starting a fight with him”, King said.

And Trump is still leading the national GOP horserace, but Cruz has zoomed into second place.

“Both of them I like and respect, but I don’t believe either one of them is going to be our president”, he said.

It’s a dilemma swatted away on Capitol Hill – perhaps optimistically. There may be no more ideal backdrop for a Trump-Cruz brawl than Las Vegas, and it’s looking like viewers might actually get one.

“There’s a sickness. They’re sick people”.

Cruz was quick to try to diffuse the tension with Trump.

So Trump may have a hard time climbing back into the lead, especially if he goes on the attack against Cruz, as he did over the weekend when he told CNN he had “far better judgment than Ted”. Cruz instead is a “rigorously conservative candidate” hoping he can “lure millions of new right-wing voters to the polls – and avoid alienating too many moderates and independents in the process”. Cruz is very unpopular among his colleagues in Washington. He gets 31 percent compared to 24 percent for Trump.

Trump, speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday’s “State of the Union”, defended his call for a ban on all Muslim travel to the U.S.

The pair appears to be heading toward a clash that Cruz, at least, long sought to delay.

That tactic came unstuck somewhat this week after he was recorded at a private function calling Trump’s judgement into question over national security.

Cruz had attempted to head that off by alleging that mainstream Republicans were trying to sow discord. You see I am supposed to be on the other side writing checks and having people do whatever I want, you know they are puppets. “Sorry to disappoint – @realdonaldtrump is terrific”. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican, said of Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the USA on NBC News’ “Meet the Press”.

Philip Ammerman, a political strategist and vice-president of Navigator Consulting, attended Princeton University with Cruz.

The chief US diplomat appeared on the television talk shows a day after envoys from 195 nations approved a historic agreement in Paris to curb global warming.

“At a core of Cruz’s candidacy is a great phonyism”, Stevens said of the self-stylized insurgent. “They all act like Trump; now they can look like him too”.

Trump touted his ability to get along with liberals and conservatives and said that was the hallmark of the “world-class businessman” he is.