Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a full-throated take down of businessman Donald Trump, as part of a last-ditch effort to trip up the New York billionaire in Indiana’s primary, which is shaping up to be the last stand for the “Never Trump” movement in the GOP presidential race.
Mr. Cruz told reporters that the rest of the country is counting on Indiana voters to pull the party back from the “abyss,” describing Mr. Trump as a “bully,” a proud “serial philanderer,” a “narcissist” and a “pathological liar.”
“It is only the good sense and good judgment of Indiana that can pull us back,” Mr. Cruz said after a campaign stop in Evansville, Indiana. “We are staring at the abyss, and I have incredible faith in Hoosiers.”
Mr. Trump released a statement in response that said the “outburst” shows Mr. Cruz is a “desperate candidate trying to save his campaign.”
“Over the last week, I have watched Lyin’ Ted become more and more unhinged as he is unable to react under the pressure and stress of losing, in all cases by landslides, the last six primary elections — in fact, coming in last place in all but one of them,” Mr. Trump said. “Today’s ridiculous outburst only proves what I have been saying for a long time, that Ted Cruz does not have the temperament to be President of the United States.”
Polls showed Mr. Trump leading Mr. Cruz by double digits heading into Tuesday’s primary in Indiana, a key battlefront in the effort to derail Mr. Trump. Mr. Cruz is hoping that evangelical Christian voters can help him pull a come-from-behind win.
Mr. Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have been mathematically eliminated from winning the nomination on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention and have shifted their attention and resources toward denying Mr. Trump the remainder of the 1,237 delegates he needs to wrap up the nomination.
The Trump-Cruz has been an interesting subplot in the Republican primary race.
The relationship blossomed into a “bromance” early on as the two men shared compliments and avoided one-on-one confrontations.
But since the race has tightened, and they’ve emerged as the front-runners in the race, the relationship has gone south, with Mr. Trump dubbing Mr. Cruz “Lyin Ted” and Mr. Cruz warning Mr. Trump’s supporters that he is playing them as chumps.
The relationship, meanwhile, soured further Tuesday after Mr. Trump relied on a story in the National Enquirer that claimed Mr. Cruz’s father was with Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The remarks appeared to be the last straw for Mr. Cruz, who has long claimed that the race should be about policy differences and not personal attacks.
“He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies,” Mr. Cruz said.
“If you hooked him up to a lie-detector test, he could say one thing in the morning, one thing at noon and one thing in the evening, all contradictory, and he would pass the lie detector each time,” he said. “Whatever lie he is telling at that minute, he believes it.”
Mr. Cruz once again warned that Mr. Trump will betray his supporters, including by refusing to won’t follow through on his promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of plan to stem the flow of illegal immigrants coming into the county.
He also accused Mr. Trump for attacking his wife, Heidi, and said Mr. Trump has a “real problem” with strong women. He said Mr. Trump has embraced Mike Tyson, a convicted rapist; boasted about being a “serial philanderer”; and talked about how a venereal disease was his “own personal Vietnam.”
“As the father of two young girls, the idea of our two daughters coming home and repeating what that man says horrifies me,” Mr. Cruz said.
The Democratic National Committee poked some fun at the evolution of the Trump-Cruz relationship, saying that Mr. Cruz clung to Mr. Trump “like a baby koala” early in the race when he thought it helped his poll numbers, and highlighting a Trump-friendly post from December on Mr. Cruz’s Twitter account.
“The Establishment’s only hope: Trump & me in a cage match,” the tweet said. “Sorry to dissappoint — @realDonaldTrump is terrific. #DealWithit.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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