Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz dismissed attacks against his record and his personal style Monday, suggesting that his political rivals are “panicking” as the Iowa caucuses approach.
“Listen, politicians behave a certain way when they are panicking,” he told NBC in an exclusive interview. “And they engage in attacks, they engage in personal attacks, that’s human nature. I understand that. I am not going to get drawn into that muck.”
*** Tune in to NBC Nightly News Monday to see more of the exclusive interview. ***
Cruz has increasingly come under fire from fellow GOP candidates as he has risen in primary polls. On Monday, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio alluded to Cruz’s foreign policy stances, knocking “isolationist candidates more passionate about weakening our intelligence capabilities than about destroying our enemies.” Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum released a campaign ad mocking Cruz’s infamous reading of the Dr. Seuss classic “Green Eggs and Ham” during a filibuster-like speech on the Senate floor in 2013. And last month, Donald Trump appeared to question Cruz’s religious faith based on his Cuban ancestry, telling a crowd in Des Moines that “I do like Ted Cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba.”
Cruz demurred when asked by NBC News whether Trump’s statement constitutes “panicking.”
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“I’m going to keep the focus on the issues that matter,” he said.
“We are seeing the entire world on fire, radical Islamic terrorism on the rise, where we are abandoning Israel, we are abandoning our allies,” he added. “What the American people are interested in is not a bunch of silly attacks from Washington politicians. They want real solutions to the problems in this country.”
Cruz has steadfastly avoided attacking Trump, who remains the GOP front-runner nationally even as the Texas senator himself has risen to a top slot in the all-important state of Iowa.
But he has not been shy about differentiating himself from fellow Sen. Marco Rubio. On Monday, a super PAC supporting Cruz released an ad contrasting the severity of various foreign policy conundrums with Rubio’s recent jokes about picking his fantasy football team.
Cruz said Monday that Rubio is “very well liked in Washington,” a comment clearly meant as a dig at the Florida senator’s relative popularity within the Washington establishment.
“I think what voters are looking for is someone who honors the commitments that he made to the men and women who have elected us. Someone who is a leader. Someone who has demonstrated that he will take on not just Democrats but leaders in our own party. Someone who will take on the Washington cartel,” Cruz said. “And I like Marco but my record is markedly different, not just from Marco’s but from every candidate on that debate stage.”
Cruz told NBC News that the increasing intensity of attacks on his campaign signals his success in the crowded GOP field.








