IS: Republican candidates question Obama claim

Republican aspirants for presidential nomination competed with each other in the debate on Thursday night to prove one point that they all agreed on — that the U.S. was facing a severe existential threat from Islamist jihad. President Barack Obama had on January 12 said the IS was “not an existential threat’ to the U.S. but the Republican candidates rejected the argument.

Front runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz attacked each other with ferocity unseen until now, ahead of the Iowa caucuses on February 1 with which the candidate selection process will formally begin. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has increased his national lead over Mr. Cruz to 13 percent, a jump from five percent a month earlier.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz picked on the brief detention of U.S sailors by Iran to drive home the point about American decline and weakness but spent considerable time undermining each other.

“It was heartbreaking, but the good news is, the next commander in chief is standing on this stage,” Mr. Cruz said of the photographs of American sailors in Iranian custody. He added that once Mr. Obama ceases to be president, any country that dares the U.S would face its “full fury and force.”

Mr. Trump has been harping on the fact that Mr. Cruz was born in Canada and questioning his eligibility to run for president. Mr. Cruz could defend his position on the birth issue, but his attack on Mr. Trump by questioning his “New York values,” possibly boomeranged. Mr. Cruz defined New York values as “socially liberal, pro-gay marriage, focused on money and the media” and added for effect that few conservative came from there.

Mr. Trump turned the table on Mr. Cruz by recalling New York’s response to the September 11 terror strikes. “The people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, even the smell of death — no one understood it,” Mr. Trump said. “And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everyone in the world watched and loved New York and New Yorkers. And I’ll tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.”

Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz, at the first and second slots, have positioned themselves as anti-establishment candidates; former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Ohio Governor John Kasich claimed to be more presidential by opposing the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the front runners and favoring a globalized economy, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio and New Jersey Governor Chris Christy appeared to be positioning themselves in the middle of the spectrum by not completely rejecting the anti-Muslim, anti-migration, anti-trade rhetoric of the front runners.

Encouraged by the traction that his extreme views gain among the Republican primary goers, Mr. Trump reiterated them all today, albeit in a calmer and more measured way compared to his earlier speeches. His argument for punitive measures against Chinese trade was questioned by Mr. Bush and Mr. Rubio who said it would adversely affect American customers. Mr. Bush and Mr. Kasich also argued that the war against IS could be won only by forming alliances with Muslims countries. “Will you bar Muslims from India and Indonesia also?” Mr. Bush asked Mr. Trump when he said he stood by his plans to “temporarily ban” Muslims from entering the U.S.