Sen. Marco Rubio
Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who have been mostly in second and third in the GOP presidential primaries, took up immigration on Thursday to try to undercut support from the frontrunner, Donald Trump, launching furious attacks on the New York billionaire.
They pressed Trump on whether his plan to deport all illegal immigrants and then let in “the good ones” was amnesty.
He explained only “the best” would return and they would only be admitted after “going in line” with other people and going through a process which “may not be a very quick process.”
Cruz praised the immigration control efforts of Arizona and connected the issue to wages, and Trump seized on the mention of Arizona to talk about his endorsement from Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an immigration hardliner.
However, it was Rubio who unexpectedly attempted to get to Donald Trump’s right on immigration, criticizing Trump for saying Mitt Romney lost in 2012 because of Romney’s support for “self-deportation.”
Trump said he was criticizing Romney for losing an election against a failed president and defended the idea of “self-deportation.”
But Rubio continued the attack, claiming Trump had paid a $1 million fine for hiring illegal Polish immigrants. Trump denied it and responded he was the only one on the stage who had hired anyone at all, drawing applause.
Cruz joined Rubio’s attack on Trump, criticizing the frontrunner for funding Democratic politicians when he was a businessman.
But Trump said as a businessman he had to get along with everyone, unlike Cruz, whom, he said, gets along with “nobody,” prompting Cruz to say, “If you want to be liked in Washington, that’s not a good attribute for a president.”
Trump fired back by bringing up Cruz’s loans from Citibank and Goldman Sachs, which were initially unacknowledged in certain financial disclosures.
It could have ended there, but Rubio later renewed his attack on Trump, showing far more aggression than in any other debate so far. He tried to undermine Trump’s credibility as a businessman by launching rapid fire attacks on the bankruptcies of some of Trump’s projects, his use of seasonal foreign labor at one of his Florida properties, and the ongoing lawsuit involving Trump’s private educational effort, Trump University.
Trying to frame Trump as man who simply inherited his wealth, Rubio joked: “If he hadn’t inherited $200 million, you know where Donald Trump would be? Selling watches in Manhattan.”
But Trump was on solid ground when the discussion turned to the border wall he’s proposed, and Mexican officials’ statements they weren’t paying for it.
“It just got 10 feet taller,” he said in response.
Trump also expressed his willingness to start a trade war with Mexico if they did not pay for the wall. He stated: “I don’t mind trade wars when we’re losing $58 billion a year, you want to know the truth. We’re losing so much.”
Rubio stayed on the attack, claiming if Trump built his wall the same way he built Trump Tower, it would be built by illegal immigrants.
“Such a cute sound bite,” Trump quipped in response.
After being pressed on his own immigration record, Rubio returned to the attack on Trump, accusing Trump of lying to the audience about the illegal Polish workers at Trump Tower.
Trump tried to dismiss the issue by saying, “Yes, yes, yes, 38 years ago.” Rubio managed to get the last word by joking, “I guess there’s a statute of limitations on lying.”
The debate involved Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ben Carson and John Kasich.
They appeared in Houston, Texas, at a high-stakes debate at the University of Houston that could be their last real shot as stopping the GOP kingpin from steamrolling his way to the Republican nomination.
The event was being held by Salem Radio, CNN and Telemundo.
Moderating were CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Telemundo’s Maria Celeste Arraras, Salem talk-radio host Hugh Hewitt and CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash.
While Cruz won in Iowa, since then Trump has won in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/02/26/cruz-rubio-gang-up-on-trump-over-immigration/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/cruz-rubio-gang-up-on-trump-over-immigration/
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