Updated with responses: Texas Sen.
Ted Cruz, who was the starring subject of
Donald Trump’s news conference this afternoon, said after watching the presser “we’re not in grade school where you just get to say ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire’,” and that it was the most “rattled” he’s seen Trump at a press conference. Meanwhile, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who Trump also touched on during his lengthy chat with media today, tweeted this:
Previously: Ted Cruz is “unstable,” Donald Trump announced to grateful TV news networks looking for action during the slow holiday news cycle.
He also doubled down on his attacks of George W. Bush, who is campaigning for brother Jeb in South Carolina in advance of that state’s primary.
“Ted Cruz is a very unstable guy,” Trump said early in the presser, sending TV news networks into a Twitter ecstasy. “I haven’t been doing this long, but I have never ever met a person that lies more than Ted Cruz. I’ve never seen anything like it,” the real estate magnate said, ticking off the Cruz campaign antics during the Iowa caucuses, and subsequent rannygazoo.
“I have never seen anybody that lied as much as Ted Cruz, and he goes around saying he’s a Christian. You’re going to have to study that,” Trump told the reporters packed into the South Carolina presser. “I think he’s an unstable person,” Trump repeated, in case anyone missed it the first time.
“We will bring a lawsuit if he doesn’t straighten his act out,” Trump said, adding that he was pleased GOP candidate Marco Rubio also recently came out calling Cruz a “liar. “Good — a politician called a politician a lair,” Trump beamed.
“[Cruz] said I’m pro-choice, and I’m pro-life. What he did with Ben Carson was terrible. He talks about me being against the Second Amendment. I’m a member of the NRA, and my sons are long-term members of the NRA — and they’re extraordinary shots,” Trump added meaningfully, making TV news networks’ day and giving Saturday Night Live this weekend’s cold-open material.
Trump’s news conference comes less than a week before the primary in South Carolina, where he continues to hold a double-digit lead over the Texas senator. Which Trump did not forget to mention, saying he’s hanging on to his lead despite the “feeding frenzy” against him at last weekend’s debate by CBS moderators.
Trump says he’s already hired a lawyer to handle his suit against Cruz. He also patted himself on the back for doing the RNC this favor, because if Cruz wins the nom, the Dems will sue. On the other hand, he insisted there is no way Cruz is going to get the nomination. Even so, Trump said, “I think it’s a good lawsuit.”
During Saturday’s debate Trump got loudly booed in the hall when he said: “George W Bush made a mistake. We all make mistakes, but that one was a beauty.” Jeb Bush responded by whining he was sick and tired of Trump going after his family.
Today, Trump revisited that subject. “The World Trade Center came down during reign of
George W. Bush. … That was the greatest attack in the history of the U.S. — worse than Pearl Harbor because it was against individuals, not military.” Additionally, Trump continued, “The war with Iraq is disaster — now Iran is taking over Iraq. I was only one onstage” who was willing to speak these truths, Trump boasted. “You could get some points for vision,” he suggested.
When one reporter asked about Bush keeping the country safe after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Trump let him have it: “What does that mean he kept America safe after 9/11. What about ‘during’? That means the other team scored 19 runs in the first inning — but we played well after that. I don’t think so!”
