Businessman Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, both 2016 GOP presidential candidates, traded jabs over Twitter late Wednesday after Mr. Trump doubled down on his political assault against Mr. Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz.
Mr. Trump, the GOP front-runner, first threatened on Tuesday to “spill the beans” on his rival’s wife after a pro-Cruz super PAC called “Make America Awesome” circulated a meme that featured a nude image of his spouse, Melania Trump, in a come-hither pose. The ad read: “Meet Melania Trump. Your next first lady. Or, you could support Ted Cruz on Tuesday.”
The ad enraged Mr. Trump, who took to Twitter to vent.
“Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!” Mr. Trump tweeted on Tuesday evening.
Mr. Cruz has since stated that he had no part in circulating the sexually charged image ahead of Tuesday’s primary in the predominately Mormon state of Utah and told NBC’s “Today” show that Mr. Trump’s threat “speaks volumes about character” and “is the epitome of classlessness.”
“If Donald is trying to mess with my wife, he’s way out of his league,” Mr. Cruz added.
Nevertheless, that didn’t stop his opponent from continuing the social media spat. Late Wednesday, Mr. Trump shared an image on Twitter that compared a candid, unflattering photograph of Mrs. Cruz with a glamour shot of Mrs. Trump.
“No need to ’spill the beans,’ ” an accompanying caption read. “The images are worth a thousands words.”
The meme had originally been tweeted to Mr. Trump by a Twitter follower, @Don_Vito_08, but it was copied by the presidential front-runner and shared with his social media audience of more than 7 million Twitter users.
“Donald, real men don’t attack women. Your wife is lovely, and Heidi is the love of my life,” Mr. Cruz responded in a tweet early Thursday.
The results of a poll released on Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California evening put Mr. Trump 11 points ahead of the Texas senator with respect to GOP voters in the Golden State, were a winner-takes-all primary is scheduled for June 7.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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