Sen. Ted Cruz says 2016 GOP rival Donald Trump’s team is acting like “union boss thugs” and that Mr. Trump’s campaign is encouraging violence.
“Donald and his team, it’s almost like they are subjects in a clinical course in psychology,” Mr. Cruz said. “There are all sorts of different behaviors they display, but one of them is projection, that the conduct they do regularly they accuse everyone else of doing.”
Mr. Cruz had been asked at a CNN town hall Wednesday evening about comments from Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s convention manager, who recently said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Mr. Cruz’s allies are engaging in “Gestapo tactics” in the hunt for GOP delegates.
“So literally, in the last few weeks, Donald’s team, Roger Stone, his chief political adviser, was threatening to out the hotel rooms of delegates who [dared] to cross Trump so they could be intimidated. They’re acting like union boss thugs,” Mr. Cruz said.
Mr. Manafort pointed out that Mr. Stone is not an official part of the campaign. But Mr. Trump has also complained about the process in Colorado this past weekend, when Mr. Cruz picked up additional delegates at a state convention.
“In Colorado, I spoke yesterday to the chairman of the Republican Party in Colorado. Trump supporters put out his home address, put out his phone numbers,” Mr. Cruz said. “He got thousands of phone calls, he got death threats. Trump supporters were telling the supporters go to his house and bring their guns.”
“Look, violence doesn’t belong in democracy. And the Trump campaign encourages it over and over again,” Mr. Cruz said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.