After months of playing nice, Cruz hits Trump. Then hits him again. And again

After months of responding to Donald Trump's attacks by deflecting them, joking about them or just plain ignoring them, Ted Cruz struck back late Tuesday with a stream of pointed criticism directed at the GOP front-runner.

At events in New Hampshire and in radio interviews, Cruz took direct aim at Trump on several fronts: tying the billionaire to Hillary Clinton, questioning his ability to win a general election, casting doubt on his ability to serve as commander-in-chief, and calling into question his "New York values."

The swiftness and ferocity of the attacks is striking for Cruz, who said as recently as Monday that he didn't want to go to war with Trump. The two men are battling for the top spot in polls in Iowa, which will cast the nation's first presidential votes Feb. 1. Cruz said Tuesday that Trump was clearly feeling the pressure.

"The Donald seems to be a little bit rattled," Cruz said on "The Howie Carr Show" on Boston's WRKO.

Cruz took direct aim at Trump's competence. "Does a potential commander-in-chief know what the nuclear triad is, much less is he or she prepared and able to strengthen it and keep this country safe?" Cruz asked on the "Hugh Hewitt Show." In a Republican debate last month, Trump was asked about the nuclear triad and had trouble with the explanation.

And he jabbed Trump on the billionaire's cosmopolitan lifestyle. "I think he may shift in his new rallies to playing New York, New York, because Donald comes from New York and he embodies New York values," he told Carr.

Cruz had long said he did not want to be engaged in a "cage match" with Trump, even as most of the Republican field grew critical of the billionaire. Still, in recent weeks he had begun tacitly questioning both Trump's ability and his electability. His campaign had been gaming out ways Trump could strike against Cruz, and how to respond forcefully well before the businessman raised a fresh round of questions over whether Cruz's birthplace affects his eligibility to be president.

For the past week, Trump has said that Cruz should go to court and seek a judgment to resolve the matter of his eligibility for the presidency. A number of Cruz's fellow Republicans, including Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Rand Paul, have also said Cruz's Canadian birth could be an issue. On Monday, Laurence Tribe, a professor of Cruz's at Harvard Law School, Laurence Tribe, accused Cruz of "Constitutional hypocrisy" and said the senator's own legal philosophy would disqualify him from being able to be sworn in as president.

"Laurence Tribe is a liberal Democratic activist. He is a hard-core Hillary Clinton supporter," Trump told Hewitt Tuesday. "And suddenly, Hillary Clinton supporters are rushing out to support Donald Trump's attacks directed at me. And it starts to make you think, gosh, why are Hillary's strongest supporters trying to prop up Donald Trump?"

Cruz suggested that Trump's increasing jabs at him just indicated the mogul was "getting nervous."

"Right now, Donald is losing to Hillary by a pretty significant margin in the national polls, and I'm beating Hillary. And so we should expect liberal Democrats to continue echoing Donald's attacks," Cruz said.

Previously:
• 01/12/16 Why weeks from the Iowa caucuses, Cruz is heading south (Hint: It ain't the climate)
• 01/07/16 Now McCain's questioning Cruz's eligibility to run for president
• 12/14/15 End of the Trump-Cruz bromance? Not if Cruz has his way
• 11/23/15 Rubio and Cruz clash over immigration and the GOP's future
• 11/19/15 While govs, mayors continue arguing over accepting Syrian refugees, Cruz introduces legislation sans emotionalism that goes much further
• 11/13/15 Ted Cruz unveils immigration plan --- on Marco Rubio's home turf
• 11/13/15 Cruz takes the gloves off, attacking Rubio on immigration
• 11/06/15 PLO criticizes Ted Cruz over 'biased and inflammatory' Senate hearing

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