At the Republican debate in South Carolina on Thursday, Ted Cruz got the first question after the first break. It was about his Canadian birth to an American mother.
Donald Trump has called you not “natural-born” as prescribed in the constitution, Cruz was asked. Are you eligible?
“I’m glad we are focusing on the important topics of the evening,” Cruz began. “Back in September, my friend Donald said he had his lawyers look at this in every which way.
“Since September, the constitution hasn’t changed – but the poll numbers have. And I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the record here are really quite clear.”
Then Cruz said that both McCain, born in Panama, and George Romney, Mitt’s father, born in Mexico, were eligible to run for president. He continued: “The birther theories that Donald is relying on say that you have to have two parents born on US soil. I would be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified. And Donald Trump would be disqualified.”
Trump’s mother was born in Scotland. Cruz then added an old Reagan line: “On the issue of citizenship, Donald, I’m not going to use your mother’s birth against you.”
Trump answered: “Because it wouldn’t work.”
He then bragged about his poll numbers, and was booed for doing so. Then he warned that if Cruz beat the rest of the field: “I already know that the Democrats will sue.”
“If you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office,” Trump added. “And you should go out and get a declaratory judgment.”
Why was Trump raising the question now? He pointed to the polls, saying of Cruz: “Now he’s doing a little bit better. He never had a chance. Now he’s doing a little bit better, he’s got probably a 4-5% chance.”
Trump turned to Cruz: “There’s a big question mark on your head, and you can’t do that to the party. The Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit. And you have to have certainty.”
The crowd was restive. Hollers and boos broke out again.
Cruz turned them to cheers by saying that he had spent his life arguing the constitution.
“I’m not going to take legal advice from Donald Trump,” he said.
