Ted Cruz: Trump Is ‘Afraid’ to Debate

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Screenshot / MSNBC

Wednesday while campaigning in Hershey PA, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said his rival Donald Trump was “afraid of a debate” with him because he lacked “substantive solutions” on policy.

Cruz said, “What I agree is that the Democratic process works, and Donald whines and complains when the voters reject him. The voters are going to decide. We’ve won five states in a row. Donald won his home state, which surprised nobody. And it’s the people — we are seeing Republicans uniting behind our campaign. Because if Donald is the nominee, Hillary wins and she wins by double digits. The stakes for our country are too great to continue down this disastrous economic road and this foreign policy that empowers our enemies. And so I couldn’t be more encouraged at seeing the unity we are having across the country. Donald’s desperation had everyone wanting to just give him the race. It shows that he’s scared when the people decide. You know, if Donald had confidence in his positions, we’d have a debate in Pennsylvania, before Pennsylvania votes. What is Donald Trump saying to the people of Pennsylvania that he thinks they don’t deserve a debate? What does it say about the corrupt big government Democrats that they’re willing to have debates. That Hillary Clinton is more willing to have her positions challenged than Donald Trump? I think that’s disgraceful. I think any candidate owes it to the voters to defend their positions. And the reason Donald is terrified is because he has no substantive solutions to fixing the problems. He yells a lot, but he has no idea how to bring jobs back to America. He has no idea how to protect America and to defeat our enemies. That’s why he’s afraid of a debate. When’s the last time, Hallie, you’ve been covering this a long time. have you actually ever seen Donald Trump talking to voters?

He added, “Nobody is getting 1,237. Donald knows that. We’re headed to a contested convention. And a contested convention, the only way you become the Republican nominee is to earn the support of a majority of the delegates elected by the people. The reason Donald is so terrified and the reason why he’s got so many of his media surrogates repeating the mantra that the race has got to be over now is because he knows he cannot earn a majority of the delegates in Cleveland because Donald consistently has been a fringe and marginal candidate getting about a third of the vote. He can’t earn a majority and he won’t earn a majority in Cleveland. If you can’t earn a majority, so he won in his own home state, but cannot earn a majority across the country. The only way you become the Republican nominee is to earn a majority. That’s what I believe we’re going to do in Cleveland. And one of the reasons Donald can’t earn a majority is why he is such a weak general election candidate. We need a candidate who can bring us together, who can unite us. Unite us as Republicans and then unite us as Americans to change the path we’re on. My top priority is jobs and economic growth and I’m the only candidate in this race with a serious, concrete, economic proposal to do that, to bring manufacturing jobs back to Pennsylvania, back to America, to raise wages, to expand opportunity. And a final point I’ll make to you, take a look at all the young people that are here. young people are energized because they’re tired of their futures being mortgaged away by irresponsible politicians. We’re fighting for the young people and I could not be more encouraged.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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