Donald Trump on Tuesday called his GOP presidential rival Ted Cruz “a baby” as he dug in on his attacks against the Texas senator, one day after calling Cruz “sick.”
“I’ve met much tougher people than Ted Cruz. He is like a baby compared to some of the people I have to deal with. He is like a little baby: soft, weak, little baby by comparison,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Sparks, Nevada, after slamming Cruz yet again as “the single biggest liar I have ever dealt with.”
Trump later added, “I’d like to really win in Texas. Wouldn’t that be great? I love Texas. I love Texas. And I think now that (Cruz) has exposed himself as a nasty person who lies a lot, I think he’s going to go way, way down in Texas. So I think we have a shot in Texas.”
Cruz responded on Twitter on Tuesday evening, by comparing Trump to the Austin Powers movie series villain Fat Bastard.
“.@realDonaldTrump, showing class & grace, calls me a “soft weak little baby.” Hope he doesn’t try to eat me,” Cruz tweeted.
Trump has leveled an unrelenting barrage of personal attacks against Cruz, calling him everything from “unstable” to a “basket case” and accusing him of lying while also touting the Bible.
The attacks come as Cruz and his allies have laid into Trump’s stances on a number of issues important to conservatives, from Trump’s use of eminent domain laws for personal gain to the New York billionaire’s past support of abortion rights and additional gun control measures.
Trump has since changed his positions on abortion and gun rights.
And while Cruz’s ads use Trump’s own words against him, Trump has accused him of playing dirty.
The latest attack is reminiscent of Trump’s line of attack against former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whom Trump branded as “low energy” over months of campaigning.
But with Bush now out of the race, Trump is looking for space to fill in his stump speech, which previously included multiple references to Bush’s “weak” nature — an effective foil for Trump’s brashness on the campaign trail.
He hinted at a potential target on Tuesday when he said “Marco Rubio is a nice young man.”
“He hasn’t hit me. No, no, no, he has not hit me. When he hits me, ugh, is he going to be hit. Actually, I can’t wait,” Trump said. “I hope he does (get nasty) because it’s more fun.”