NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.— The Ted Cruz who came out swinging at Donald Trump on Thursday night is here to stay, now willing to not only answer Trump’s criticisms but to eagerly define his rival’s weaknesses as the 2016 race in Iowa becomes a two-man contest.

“Iowa is three weeks away,” Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said. “People want to know how you’re different. It’s time to tell how we’re different.”


It’s a dramatic shift for Cruz, who until this week either ignored or laughed off Trump’s occasional swipes, instead describing him at every turn as a “friend” whom he “likes and respects,” and appearing deeply reluctant to acknowledge disagreement with even Trump’s most controversial comments.

That kid-glove handling stemmed from Cruz’s desire not to alienate Trump’s many supporters. And aware that the Texas senator remains, for now, the second choice of some of those voters, the Cruz campaign is being careful to stress that the Texas senator is only responding to Trump after he picked a fight first by questioning whether Cruz, born abroad to a U.S. citizen, is eligible to run the country.

"We came prepared,” Tyler said of Cruz’s aggressive response on the “birther” issue, in which he cast Trump’s argument as a desperate gambit to recover lost ground in the polls. “I thought with the American people he put it to rest. Donald Trump might not think it’s to rest. He should put it to rest, it’s not a strategic decision because it hasn’t moved a single number. … It seems like an emotional reaction, but you’d have to ask him.”

Indeed, Cruz’s staffers and backers indicated that while Cruz has until now publicly laid off Trump, his team has long been watching closely and waiting for the right time to pounce. They cited moments that took place last summer and in an interview that he gave close to two decades ago as they questioned Trump’s conservative credentials.

Now, after the debate, Cruz's backers are foreshadowing a pre-Iowa push aimed at differentiating the senator from Trump on everything from policy to character, even as the campaign says it will stick to policy.

“If Donald wants to have honest, open policy contrasts, we’re ready for that,” campaign chairman Chad Sweet said. “If, on the other hand, he’s going to engage in discussions over nonsensical issues, over birther issues or who’s the real evangelical—which, by the way, someone from his background should be careful about questioning the faith of our candidate,” something Trump has also done recently.

Asked what he meant by Trump’s “background,” Sweet continued, referencing a Trump appearance at a cattle call in Iowa last summer. “I think it’s interesting that Trump … basically said at [a] family values forum he’s never asked for forgiveness, but yet he is Christian. I would ask most Christians the question, ‘What is the first thing you do to become a Christian?’ Christians know what the answer to that question is.”

Charlie Condon, the former attorney general of South Carolina and a newly minted surrogate, was more pointed in discussing Trump’s “background,” a preview of the potentially nasty nature of the new Cruz-Trump dynamic.

“A thrice-married man is going to come into South Carolina expecting to be the Republican nominee?” Condon asked incredulously. “He’s pro-choice. He’s pro- gay marriage. He’s against traditional values. He’s New York, and he’s got to talk about that.”

Still, a Cruz adviser cautioned that the relentlessly on-message Cruz is not planning to fly off the handle on Trump.

“This is about our campaign and us, we’re not going to spend a lot of time reacting to everything,” the source said. "He’ll probably refer people to the debate. I think he’ll say, ‘I stood two-and-a-half feet from him and said it, and everything I said there stands today.’”

But, noted this source, “Ted’s not going to be Donald Trump’s caddy. I think that’s pretty clear from tonight.”

Asked following the debate how he would handle Cruz’s jabs should they continue, Trump responded only that “I’m a counter-puncher,” though the Cruz campaign is repeatedly noting that it was Trump who threw the first punch.

“It’s disappointing Donald decided to break his own rule,” Sweet said.

Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski threw a punch of his own. “What are they, Calgary values?” he asked of Cruz’s beliefs.

As Cruz and Trump look increasingly like each others’ chief competitors for the nomination, some conservatives worry that the rancor between them only undermines the chances of either winning the nomination, strengthening the hand of the establishment wing of the party instead.

Scottie Nell Hughes, a tea-party activist and Trump surrogate who introduced the mogul at a Dallas campaign rally in September, said more attacks from either side would be a mistake. “Donald Trump going after Ted Cruz — all that does is alienate his natural supporters,” said Hughes, who also serves as chief political correspondent of USA Radio Networks.

Hughes, who considers herself an admirer of Cruz, said she has felt caught between the two campaigns in recent days as their relationship has deteriorated. “Both sides feel I’m in the other’s camp, because I don’t think conservatives should attack each other.”

So far, several other current and former GOP candidates, from Jeb Bush to Rick Perry, have tried to attack Trump, but the efforts have largely fallen short or even backfired, illustrating the risks of Cruz’s new posture. The Cruz team, however, was adamant that the senator, who waited to build his name ID and to settle into a strong place in the polls before directly engaging with Trump, is in a different position.

“At the end of the day, what was demonstrated by tonight is, if you tangle with Sen. Cruz, you lose,” Sweet said.

Trump, however, was hardly declaring defeat Thursday night.

“I guess the bromance is over,” he said.