Donald Trump wasted no time on Sunday in going after Sen. Ted Cruz, who, according to recent polls, is his chief rival to win the Iowa caucuses. On ABC News, Trump called Cruz a “total liar” for suggesting that the real estate mogul had a plan for health care that was similar to Obamacare.
“Look, Ted Cruz is a total liar. I am so against Obamacare,” Trump said. “I’ve been saying it for two years in my speeches, I’m going to repeal and replace Obamacare. I don’t even know where he gets this.”
Trump didn’t give any details about what his plan would be to replace Obamacare, only noting that some people do have to be covered by the government. “If people have no money, we have to help people,” Trump said. “But that doesn’t mean single payer. It means we have to help people.”
That wasn’t the only time the front-runner called Cruz a liar. He also noted that the senator had not disclosed several loans. “He’s a liar. He didn’t even put down on his financial disclosure forms that he borrowed money from banks at low interest loans, lower than you could get, lower than anybody could get,” Trump said.
Trump is hardly the only one who is attacking Cruz’s credibility on the trail. Several of Cruz’s Republican opponents have been “eager to cite a history of political opportunism they say is more in line with a used car salesman than the ‘consistent conservative’ he claims to be,” notes the Associated Press.
Beyond his credibility, Trump also attacked Cruz’s likability, saying no one really likes the senator. “Here’s a guy with all of these senators. Not one endorsement of Cruz, because he’s a nasty guy. Nobody likes him,” Trump said.
Cruz pushed back saying that Trump was scared about attending last week’s debate. “Donald did not want his record challenged,” Cruz said on CNN. “It’s the same reason actually that Donald engages in insults, because he can’t defend his substantive record.”
