A.G. Gancarski
GOP Presidential hopefuls Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio continued their war of invective on “Fox News Sunday” ahead of Super Tuesday.
First up: Trump, taking exception to the Rubio claim that Trump is a “con man,” referred to “Little Marco” as a “lightweight who couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Florida,” who “deceived and shorted Florida,” and who, along with Cruz, are “establishment guys.”
Regarding the “Polish workers” claim Rubio made in the debate last week regarding the construction of Trump Tower, Trump said “it was one thing from 35 years ago,” and it was the fault of the contractor he hired back then, when “the laws were totally different.”
“I hired the contractor. The contractor came in with people. Some of those people were Polish,” Trump said.
The conversation moved to “Trump University” and the American Future Fund ad taking that to task.
Trump noted that “the school had an A rating from the Better Business Bureau” and that “98 percent of the people who took the courses … thought they were terrific,” according to student evaluations.
Trump then addressed the judge in the case, who Trump “believe[s] to be Hispanic,” a claim that the New York State Attorney General said was an example of “racial demagoguery.”
“He is a very hostile judge to me,” Trump said. “This is a judge that in my opinion does not like Donald Trump.”
Then, the conversation pivoted to Trump’s delayed release of tax returns.
Trump claimed to have filed “unbelievable, voluminous documents … as to my net worth and as to everything else” with the Federal Elections Commission.
Regarding tax returns, “I have been singled out … audited for many, many years … it is very unfair.”
A subdued Cruz, during his segment, noted that “65 percent of Republicans don’t want to see Trump as the nominee” and the “only way to stop Donald is to vote for our campaign on Super Tuesday.”
When it was pointed out that Trump was beating Cruz with evangelicals, Cruz referred to Trump as a “Washington dealmaker.”
“We saw it in the debate,” Cruz said, with Trump telling Cruz “you’ve got to compromise on religious liberties.”
“Donald Trump is someone who supported Bill Clinton‘s ban on firearms,” which included “some of the most popular guns in America,” Cruz continued.
Cruz hit Trump on possible Supreme Court picks also, saying that Trump’s sister was a “liberal radical pro-abortion Clinton appointee” that the front runner wanted to put on the Court.
Cruz then hit Trump for contributions to the Gang of 8 and “radical, liberal” politicians.
Toward the end of the interview, Cruz noted “robocalls from a white supremacist group” in support of Trump, in response to questions from host Chris Wallace about a series of questionable tactics undertaken by the Cruz campaign.
Rubio did not get the live interview to “discuss his new strategy.” It was pretaped Saturday.
The first question: Why wait so long to attack Trump?
Rubio: “I really believed that voters would see the con job. And it hasn’t happened… we’re about to lose the conservative movement, and the party of Lincoln and Reagan, to a con artist.”
Rubio continued the “con artist” trope with allusions to the Trump University lawsuit, saying “we cannot allow this guy to become the Republican nominee. The Democrats will tear him to shreds.”
Onward to finances, Rubio said that “if Trump is elected President, he’s not going to make America great. He’s going to make America broke.”
Rubio was then put on the defense regarding his light record of Senatorial achievement, saying that he and Bernie Sanders worked together on VA accountability, and that “we led the effort to deal with the Obamacare bailout fund.”
Wallace moved the conversation soon enough to the Gang of 8 bill.
“Throughout that debate in the Senate, I kept saying that this is the best we can do here… but it’s going to have to change in the House.”
“It’s the best we could do in a Senate run by Harry Reid,” Rubio added.
A Super Tuesday question followed. Rubio asserted that even if he doesn’t win a state, he still “absolutely” is a viable candidate.
“We’re going to pick up a lot of delegates… and come March 15, I expect this race to be significantly narrowed,” Rubio said, before reaffirming his confidence that he can win Florida.
