Cruz first drew conservative attention at Supreme Court

Trump and Cruz clashed repeatedly in Thursday’s presidential debate over whether Cruz’s Canadian birthplace disqualified him from the presidency, and whether Trump embodied “New York values”, which Cruz said were not compatible with conservatism.

On Saturday morning, the Republican presidential candidate was stuck in an elevator at a campaign stop in SC. Reached by phone, Schwartz said the issues did not relate to Cruz’s citizenship but that he had wanted to include them as examples of “some of the downside consequences of his being elected”.

“And for whatever reason, Donald doesn’t react well when he’s going down in the polls”, he added. It has allowed the Cruz campaign to resurface Trump’s old liberal positions in a way that doesn’t seem stale and like something the media has covered before.

Cruz says the attacks Trump has launched concerning his status as a “natural born citizen” have come about only becasue Trump has lost some of his lead in the recent polls. And Donald is Donald Trump, who’s been highlighting the fact that Cruz was born to an American mother, but in Canada.

At the tea party meeting, Cruz didn’t mention Trump by name.

Trump used the opportunity to bash both President Obama and the Republican establishment.

Cruz: Well Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of The New York Times.

Trump has been the leading voice questioning Cruz’s Canadian birth – Cruz was ready.

Trump gleefully followed up with a second attack alluding to new accusations that Cruz failed to disclose almost $1 million in loans during his Senate campaign.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That set the tone for a rough-and-tumble evening, and the candidates got into it again over the Texas senator’s statements that Trump embodies – quote – “New York values”. Trump retorted: “Say whatever you want”. Cruz responded to the tweets by telling reporters that it showed Trump wasn’t the “stable and steady” type of person a commander-in-chief should be.

From a certain point of view, Cruz’s attacks can be considered at least weird, since he is well known for praising Donald Trump for months, before the race for the GOP nomination got tighter.

“I apologize to the millions of New Yorkers who have been let down by liberal politicians in that state”, Cruz told the press.

Here are some of the more memorable moments from Thursday night’s Republican debates.

Cruz’s comments also raised hackles in some quarters because, historically, saying something is “too New York” has sometimes been code for “too Jewish”.

Cruz has fought back against bi-partisan backlash after his comments about NY before and during the last Republican presidential debate.

Influential conservative talk-radio host Mark Levin told Trump in a Facebook post to “either cut the crap – your accusations this morning that Cruz is Canadian, a criminal, owned by big banks, etc. – or you will lose lots and lots of conservatives”.