Donald Trump brings up Ted Cruz’s Cuban ancestry at rally

The spat this week began after audio emerged from a Cruz fundraiser where the candidate raised doubts about Trump’s “judgment”.

The part that for some inexplicable reason is getting less attention is Trump’s full-on racist attack on Cruz’s Cuban-American roots. Just a day before the Times story broke, Cruz told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough he wouldn’t criticize Trump for his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. Among Cruz supporters, just 43 percent said they are committed to supporting him, while 55 percent said they could still be persuaded to support another candidate.

“I happen to believe that the extraordinary leader that we need for these extraordinary times is your senator, Ted Cruz”, he added. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson has lost support, and is now in single digits when registered voters who think of themselves as Republicans are asked whom they support. Now that’s a question of strength, but it’s also a question of judgment. “When we go in church and I drink the little wine … and I eat the little cracker”, he said, “I guess that’s a form of asking forgiveness”.

“We have more work to do, but we can definitively say the message is working”, Cruz’s Iowa state director, Bryan English, told CNN in a statement.

With only weeks remaining before the Iowa caucuses, Rubio and Cruz are battling for the role of top Trump alternative, should the front-runner fade or make good on his threat to run as an independent.

Trump took questions for almost an hour, many from special interest groups like Veterans for Strong America, which endorsed Trump earlier this summer.

The two rivals have been cordial to one another in the race so far, but Mr Trump’s remarks could be the opening salvo in the kind of ferocious barrages he has turned on all others.

Recent polls suggest Iowa support has grown for Cruz, who has built a deep organization with endorsements from state and local officials and support in all 99 counties. “The headline says he attacked Trump”, Frazier wrote.

While other GOP presidential hopefuls have clashed with the Trump Nation head-on, Cruz’s decision to stay out of Trump’s way is proving to be a favorable strategy in Iowa. “Ted Cruz”, Vander Plaats said. About 49% believe Trump “knows the most about how to get things done”, while only 22% say that of Cruz. Compared to some of Trump’s typical barrages against his opponents, which often include long-winded and humorous asides, his comments about Cruz on Friday were restrained and concrete.

Trump has often derided the Des Moines Register, Iowa’s largest newspaper, as biased against him. At what point does Cruz decide he has no choice but to prosecute a case against Trump? I’ll leave you with two GOP primary thoughts: (1) Jeb Bush’s Super PAC has reportedly burned through half of its once-intimidating $100 million fundraising haul. It isn’t impossible to imagine a winning path, but it’s a narrow, rocky one. Should Trump falter, pro-Trump border hawks would probably prefer Cruz to Rubio, who tried to shepherd immigration reform through the Senate. “I’m going to be here a lot in January”.