GOP candidates attack each other in feisty debate

In one of the feistiest debates of the year, Republican presidential candidates clashed with each other over a myriad of domestic and foreign policy issues including taxes, wages, illegal immigration and how to tackle Russia and the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who has led opinion polls in the 2016 GOP race for months, opened the fourth primetime Republican debate Tuesday night by suggesting that both taxes and wages are “too high” in the United States chipping away at the country’s competitiveness.

“We’re not going to be able to compete against the world,” Trump said when asked about New York’s decision to raise the minimum wage to $15 for some workers.

His main rival for the front-runner position in the Republican primary, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, agreed.

“I would not raise it specifically because I’m interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities,” he said.

Trump also doubled down on his harsh immigration policy, which calls for building a towering wall along the southern borders and deporting all undocumented immigrants from the United States.

Ohio Governor John Kasich’s called Trump’s approach “a silly argument,” and insisted that those in the US illegally need to be granted legal status.

“We all know you can’t pick them up and ship them back across the border,” Kasich said.

Trump fired back, calling Kasich a “pinhead” for his record as the governor of Ohio and the state’s tepid economic recovery.

"You’re lucky in Ohio that you struck oil," the real estate mogul said, citing former President Dwight D. Eisenhower who oversaw a mass deportation of illegal immigrants in the 1950s. “Dwight Eisenhower. You don’t get nicer, you don’t get friendlier. They moved a million and a half people out.”

As the argument heated up and Kasich started to respond, Trump interrupted, saying, “I don't have to hear from this man.”

The Ohio governor looked to step into the fray again, but Trump told him to "let Jeb speak."

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, whose campaign has run into problems, parried with Trump on immigration policy, striking a similar note as Kasich.

“It’s not embracing American values, and it would tear communities apart,” Bush said about Trump’s deportation proposal. “And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal. They’re doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign when they hear this … the way you win the presidency is you have practical plans.”

Trump also came under fire by other candidates when he suggested that the United States should stay out of more confrontations in response to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s air campaign in Syria.

“If Putin wants to go and knock the hell out of ISIL, I am all for it,” Trump said, arguing that the US should not get involved militarily against the terrorist group, and instead let other countries take the lead.

“We can’t continue to be the policeman of the world,” he noted.

Bush responded that Trump was misunderstanding the whole issue. “We’re not going to be the world’s policemen, but we sure as heck better be the world’s leader.”

He suggested that Trump’s view of Putin is “like a board game. That’s like playing Monopoly, that’s not how the world works.”

That set off one of the most heated exchanges of any GOP debate so far in the race.

Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina criticized Trump for being naïve about the threat Putin posed, and said she would not negotiate with the Russian president.

Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning senator from Kentucky, called for more restraint in US military involvements overseas. “You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the world.”

Fiorina tried to interject only to be shushed by Trump. “Why does she keep interrupting everybody?”

“I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know that he's a gangster,” Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said.

Eight Republican candidates faced off Tuesday night in Milwaukee.

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