Cruz: Trump "has the same issues" as Clinton
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz compared Republican front-runner Donald Trump to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton Sunday, saying they are "substantively" the same on a whole host of issues.
"We saw that Donald Trump substantively has the same issues, on issue after issue, as Hillary Clinton," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "He agreed with Hillary Clinton on Libya, toppling the government in Libya. That led directly to Benghazi, led to handing that country over to radical Islamic terrorism. He agreed with Hillary Clinton, supporting John Kerry. He agreed with Hillary Clinton on being quote 'neutral' between Israel and the Palestinians."
Cruz acknowledged that the Super Tuesday primaries in the 2016 White House race could be a do-or-die moment for the candidates taking on Donald Trump in the Republican primaries, calling it "the most important day of this entire primary election."
"It is -- the most delegates awarded in a single night will be awarded on Super Tuesday," he said. "And I think we are positioned to have a very good night on Super Tuesday ... If you look at the Super Tuesday states, we are running neck-in-neck with Donald in states all across Super Tuesday."
Still, Cruz acknowledged that if Trump has a big night on Tuesday he could be impossible to beat.
"Look, there is no doubt that if Donald steam rolls through Super Tuesday, wins everywhere with big margins, that he may well be unstoppable," he said, adding: "I don't think that will happen."
As for Trump's antics on the campaign trail, Cruz said he's not bothered.
"I mean, just overnight he can turn on you, and get nasty, and personal, and vicious. Listen, I treat him as an entertainer. I laugh it off," he said. "I mean, it's like going to the circus and seeing the acrobats and the dancing bears. He's willing to say things that are patently false."
Cruz also noted the "irony" of Trump's hard-line position on immigration, citing news stories that documented Trump's use of foreign labor on his properties around the country.
"Given that just this week news broke that he is hiring foreign workers at his fancy hotel in Florida and he claims -- you know he did an interview after the debate where he said 'Well gosh you can't find Americans to do these jobs, to be waiters or waitresses or bellhops,'" he said. "I mean...what ridiculous nonsense. You know the New York Times reported roughly 300 Americans applied for those jobs. He only hired 17."
On the issue of tax returns, Cruz blasted Trump for using ongoing audits as an excuse for delaying the release of his tax info.
"Well, he said in the debate--he said 'Gosh, I'm being audited, for 2 years.' Then he said '3 years.' Then he said 'maybe 5 years,'" Cruz said. "Listen, if there's a problem in his taxes, the voters have a right to know. Because come September, October, the general election, folks in the media are going to make a hay day about any problems in his taxes.
"You know, Mitt Romney suggested there could be a bombshell there," he continued. "I don't know if there is or not. But Donald is hiding them from the voters, and I think he owes candor to the voters."
As for the high-profile endorsement Trump picked up from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Cruz says he wasn't shocked by it.
"I don't think that was a big surprise--I think it was a blow to the Rubio campaign," he said. "But at the end of the day, the Washington establishment is going to go where they are going to go. This really in Super Tuesday is a battle to determine where conservatives go."
