Cruz downplays Trump raising concerns over Canadian birth

Forty percent of those who say they will vote in the Republican Primary say they will vote for Trump – up nine-percent since August. “You got to stand up for a guy that says the things that he says and guarantees a conservative won’t be elected president, that’s wrong”. “If he was born in Canada, then perhaps not”. “How would you go about rounding up and deporting 11.5 million people?”

But on Wednesday, after Trump’s criticism gained steam on social media and in news reports, Cruz was forced to defend himself.

A couple of months ago, for example, when Trump raised the prospect of the USA government closing down mosques, Marco Rubio went a little further, suggesting officials may have to start closing cafes and diners, too, “not just mosques”. “I’m winning with everything”.

Trump’s political inexperience and controversial statements about immigration, among other subjects, has generated more anxiety about his candidacy than other candidates. The business mogul frequently touts his Ivy League education and the fact that he attended University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. This last phrase has periodically spawned questions about presidential candidates who were born, or rumoured to have been born, outside the United States. “I haven’t seen the specifics of it. If he has one, he should engage with Senator Cornyn who is the sponsor of a bill with Democratic support in the Senate to do just that”, said Bush.

Jeet Heer added, “To deport 11 million people and give them no way to return to the country they once lived in would amount to one of the biggest forced migrations in human history”.

Cruz has been reluctant to directly engage Trump during the Republican debate season, however this episode did prompt a feisty tweet from the senator from Texas. The growing tension – largely stoked by the billionaire – came to a head Tuesday evening, when The Washington Post published an interview in which Trump said Cruz’s Canadian birth could be “very precarious” for the GOP. “And I haven’t been there in four or five years, so I had my assistant call“.

Republican Presidential candidate, Sen. “You have to take care of people that can’t take care of themselves, folks”, Trump explained. That’s what I’m doing.

Trump has long flirted with “birtherism”, questioning Obama’s love of country and legal claim to the presidency.

Trump’s current focus is on pressing voters in early states to help him run up the score, but he’s also looking ahead to the general election – and sounding confident.

“What I have made clear is that under no circumstances should anyone here illegally be granted citizenship”. We’re talking about something else, okay. Bloomberg Politics reported on some of the details of Trump’s stated policy. “A poll came out today“. Determining to out-Trump Donald Trump should not be anyone’s New Year’s resolution. I mean, you know I’m from NY. Who knows if that’s even possible at this point, but we do know that these two won’t even be pretending to be friends from here on out. Legal scholars say it is likely Cruz would pass the U.S. Constitution’s “natural-born citizen” litmus test if the issue ever landed him in court.