Sparks flew at the toughest and liveliest GOP primary debate yet
Saturday night, as Donald Trump and Jeb Bush clashed over the Middle
East and George W. Bush’s legacy, trading insults at a rapid clip – and
the two Cuban-American senators in the race accused each other of lying
on immigration and even questioned each other’s Spanish-speaking skills.
And just when it seemed Trump and Ted Cruz might
steer clear of each other, the two leading Republican candidates entered
the ring toward the end of the debate when the Texas senator questioned
the billionaire businessman’s pro-life credentials.
“You are the single biggest liar. You’re probably worse than Jeb Bush,” Trump said.
Cruz stood his ground, charging that Trump would “appoint liberals” to the Supreme Court if elected.
The issue of judicial appointments was front and
center at the CBS News-hosted debate in Greenville, S.C., in the wake of
Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, with candidates like Cruz saying it
underscores the high stakes in this election. Several candidates called
for a delay in any high court appointment or confirmation.
But the barbed and often personal exchanges Saturday
marked a new phase of the race, as the candidates charge into next
week’s critical South Carolina primary. The clashes left Ohio Gov. John
Kasich – the affable, second-place finisher in the New Hampshire primary
– making an appeal for peace in the GOP field, albeit one unlikely to
be heeded.
“I think we’re fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don’t stop this,” Kasich said.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, too, warned about the coming general election and said, “We cannot be tearing each other down.”
The appeals came shortly after Cruz and Florida Sen.
Marco Rubio accused each other of being soft on illegal immigration.
It’s an argument they’ve had before – Cruz faults Rubio for backing a
comprehensive immigration reform bill that included a path to legal
status, and Rubio says Cruz was on board with that effort – but this
time, it became more heated. And after Cruz accused Rubio of saying on
Univision he wouldn’t rescind President Obama’s immigration executive
orders on day one, Rubio quipped:
“I don’t know how he knows what I said on Univision because he doesn’t speak Spanish,” Rubio said.
Cruz, then, immediately began debating Rubio in
Spanish. Rubio continued, saying Cruz “lies about all sorts of things”
and indeed supports legalizing illegal immigrants.
“Simply false,” Cruz said.
As the Rubio-Cruz battle heated up, so did the long-simmering feud between Trump and Bush.
“This is a man who insults his way to the nomination,” Bush said of Trump.
With Bush attempting a comeback in the race after a
fourth-place finish in New Hampshire, Trump faced a feistier debate
rival on stage Saturday night than he has before – boosted in part by
what seemed to be a sympathetic audience.
The audience often booed Trump when he took on Bush,
though Trump once again accused them of representing Bush’s “special
interests and lobbyists.”
Their most personal dispute came when Trump accused
Bush of promoting a policy that would get the U.S. mired more deeply in
the Middle East – and blamed the former Florida governor’s brother for
the problems there.
Trump initially took issue with Jeb Bush’s call to
confront ISIS while also taking on Syria’s Bashar Assad and sidelining
Russia.
“Jeb is so wrong,” Trump said. “You have to knock out
ISIS. .... You decide what you have to do after. You can’t fight two
wars at one time.”
Bush, though, said Russia is not a U.S. ally, and
Assad’s hold on power prevents a resolution in the war. Trump then went
on to repeatedly slam the decision under the George W. Bush
administration to enter Iraq in the first place, calling it a “big fat
mistake” that “destabilized the Middle East.”
“They lied” about WMDs, he said.
“I am sick and tired of him going after my family,”
Jeb Bush countered, saying he’s proud of his brother’s efforts to keep
the country safe.
Trump then invoked 9/11: “The World Trade Center came down … That’s not keeping us safe.”
Rubio, who has often been at odds with Bush, leapt to his brother’s defense, saying the Bush administration “kept us safe.”
Jeb Bush joked that he was rescinding Trump’s invitation to an upcoming rally with George W. Bush on the campaign trail.
The fireworks flew after the debate started on a
somber note, discussing the legacy of Supreme Court Justice Scalia and
the impact his death Saturday will have.
Several candidates urged President Obama to refrain
from nominating anybody to fill the vacancy, and wait for the next
president to make that decision. Trump, though, said he doesn’t expect
Obama to wait, and called on Senate Republicans to hold up any
nomination.
“It’s called delay, delay, delay,” Trump said.
Trump called Scalia’s death a “tremendous blow to conservatism.”
Kasich urged Obama to put the “country first” and not
move forward with a nomination, a plea echoed by Rubio. Obama, though,
said minutes before the start of the debate that he indeed plans to
nominate a successor.
The GOP candidates, meanwhile, used opening remarks to honor Scalia’s legacy.
Cruz called him a “legal giant” who “changed the arc
of American legal history.” He said Scalia’s death also “underscores the
stakes of this election.”
“We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that
will strike down every restriction on abortion” by states, threaten gun
rights and “undermine” religious liberty, Cruz said. He said he would
appoint a strict constitutionalist if elected.
Scalia’s death thrusts the issue of judicial
appointments into the 2016 race, raising the possibility that the next
president immediately will have to fill a high court vacancy. While
Obama vowed Saturday to nominate a successor, it’s unclear whether he
can get any appointee confirmed in the Republican-led Senate.
While the prospect of a Supreme Court vacancy now
looms over the race, the South Carolina primary already was heating up
on several fronts in recent days, with the candidates trading
accusations on immigration and other issues.
The debate Saturday reflects that tougher tone, in a
state notorious for bare-knuckle primary battles. Trump at one point
accused Cruz of trying to spread rumors in the state that he’s not
running in South Carolina – likening that to his campaign’s actions in
Iowa, where representatives spread false rumors that Carson was dropping
out.
“Nasty guy, now I know why he doesn’t have one endorsement from any of his colleagues,” Trump said.
Even Kasich struggled to avoid the fray, as Bush
criticized him for expanding Medicaid under ObamaCare and said that
would create more debt.
“He knows that I’m not for ObamaCare,” Kasich said, before vowing to stay “positive. “
The GOP field is now down to six candidates -- after
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett Packard chief
executive Carly Fiorina dropped out following low finishes Tuesday in
the New Hampshire primary.
A big question Saturday night, and going forward, was
whether Rubio could regain his momentum – following last weekend’s
lackluster performance. A withering attack by Christie on Rubio, which
had the Florida senator repeating himself, appeared to hurt him in the
New Hampshire primary. Rubio himself blamed his debate performance in
part for his fifth-place finish in the state. He finished behind Trump,
Kasich, Cruz and Bush. Christie, though, is no longer on stage or in the
race.
Most polling in South Carolina still shows Rubio third, with Trump and Cruz in the top two positions, respectively.