Frontrunners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz attacked each other with ferocity unseen until now, ahead of the Iowa caucuses on February 1 with which the candidate selection process will formally begin. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has increased his national lead over Mr. Cruz to 13 percent, a jump from five percent a month earlier.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz picked on the brief detention of U.S sailors by Iran to drive home the point about American decline and weakness but spent considerable time undermining each other.
“It was heartbreaking, but the good news is, the next commander in chief is standing on this stage,” Mr. Cruz said of the photographs of American sailors in Iranian custody. He added that once Mr. Obama ceases to be president, any country that dares the U.S would face its “full fury and force.”
Mr. Trump has been harping on the fact that Mr. Cruz was born in Canada and questioning his eligibility to run for president. Mr. Cruz could defend his position on the birth issue, but his attack on Mr. Trump by questioning his “New York values,” possibly boomeranged. Mr. Cruz defined New York values as “socially liberal, pro-gay marriage, focused on money and the media” and added for effect that few conservative came from there.
Mr. Trump turned the table on Mr. Cruz by recalling New York’s response to the September 11 terror strikes. “The people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, even the smell of death — no one understood it,” Mr. Trump said. “And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everyone in the world watched and loved New York and New Yorkers. And I’ll tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.”
Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz, at the first and second slots, have positioned themselves as anti-establishment candidates; former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Ohio Governor John Kasich claimed to be more presidential by opposing the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the frontrunners and favouring a globalised economy, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio and New Jersey Governor Chris Christy appeared to be positioning themselves in the middle of the spectrum by not completely rejecting the anti-Muslim, anti-migration, anti-trade rhetoric of the frontrunners.
