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AIKEN, South Carolina (AP) — Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz continued to joust for primacy heading into the South Carolina primary next weekend, foregoing policy differences for name-calling and insults.
Trump called Cruz "nuts," "dishonest" and "an unstable person," while Cruz questioned both Trump's conservative credentials and whether he had the temperament to be president. Cruz is trying to weaken Trump's standing among South Carolina's social conservatives and evangelical Christians, a key voting bloc in Saturday's contest.
"The people of South Carolina want a consistent conservative they can trust," Cruz told reporters before his rally in Aiken.
About the same time at a rally 130 miles away in Mount Pleasant, Trump called Cruz "the most dishonest guy I think I've ever met in politics."
"I think he's an unstable person," he said, later declaring: "He's nuts"
Speaking to hundreds of supporters, Cruz said he intends to make the presidential race a referendum on the Supreme Court and the importance of electing a president who will nominate conservatives. The issue is at the forefront of the presidential race following the sudden death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, whom Cruz praised as a "lion of the law."
Cruz said before his rally that a vote for Trump would be a vote for doing away with Second Amendment gun rights, predicting that the billionaire businessman would appoint liberal justices to the Supreme Court. He ticked off a list of Democrats Trump had donated to in the past, including 2004 presidential nominee John Kerry.
Cruz also took issue with Trump and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Both called him a liar during Saturday's debate. Cruz said they both "simply scream 'Liar, liar!'" whenever their records are questioned, and that approach would not work when negotiating with the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Cruz also blasted Trump's apparent confusion during a Republican debate last year over what constituted the nuclear triad as an example of how the real estate mogul is unprepared to be president. And Cruz again returned to criticizing Trump's praise of Planned Parenthood.
Cruz released a television ad on Sunday attacking Trump for previously saying Planned Parenthood "serves a good function." In Saturday's debate Trump said that the organization "does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion."
"He's entitled to have that opinion," Cruz said Monday. "A lot of liberal Democrats have that opinion."
Cruz also said Rubio's positions on supporting a path to citizenship puts him in line with "a lot of liberal Democrats" including Hillary Clinton. Rubio has previously supported a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally, but has backed off that position and now says border security must be increased first.
Even as Cruz sharpened his attacks on Rubio and Trump, he said the campaign "shouldn't just be about insults and personal attacks."
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former President George W. Bush was making his first direct foray into the 2016 campaign Monday in South Carolina, hoping a state that put him on the path to the White House 16 years ago can do the same for his brother, Jeb.
The younger Bush's decision to put the former president front-and-center underscores his tenuous position in a race he was once expected to dominate. Bush is seeking to trade on his family's popularity in South Carolina, even if that means reviving his brother's complicated legacy and reminding voters eager to break with the political establishment that he'd be the third Bush to serve as president.
"The Bush family is beloved," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday. Graham joined the former president and wife, Laura, at an American Legion Post in Columbia, where they greeted the crowd before traveling to Charleston for an evening rally.
Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush each won two Republican primaries in South Carolina, and their family retains deep social and political ties here. But in the turbulent 2016 race, the state appears to be Donald Trump's to lose.
On Monday, the billionaire seemed intent on overshadowing Bush's return to presidential politics. Trump scheduled events in Charleston, where the Bush family would be campaigning, and leveled multiple attacks against the brothers on Twitter.
"Now that George Bush is campaigning for Jeb (!), is he fair game for questions about World Trade Center, Iraq War and (economic) collapse?" Trump wrote. "Careful!"
Supporters of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, another Republican presidential candidate, suggested Jeb was now a fair target. South Carolina State Rep. Gary Clary took aim at Bush's economic record, noting that Kasich helped forge a balanced budget while serving in Congress and working with Democratic President Bill Clinton.
"He handed it off to President George W. Bush who proceeded to increase federal spending by an astonishing 83 percent over his two terms," Clary said.
While Trump has dished out biting critiques against nearly all his rivals, he seems to delight particularly in targeting Bush. The former Florida governor was initially unnerved by the attacks, but he's grown more comfortable taking on the brash real estate mogul and has relished in being one of the few GOP candidates willing to do so.
"I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him," Bush said during Saturday's GOP debate. "I am sick and tired of him going after my family."
Despite his deep loyalty to his family, Bush has struggled with what role they should play in his campaign, particularly his brother. The 43rd president left office deeply unpopular with a nation fatigued by the Iraq War and angry over his botched response to Hurricane Katrina.
Since leaving the White House in early 2008, Bush has kept a low profile. He retreated to his home state of Texas, where he picked up painting and delved into work on his presidential library, public health projects in Africa, and events for wounded military service members.
Friends say he's remained engaged in his brother's campaign behind the scenes and like their father, has struggled to comprehend how Trump has taken command of a party he once led.
With Jeb Bush's opportunities to revive his campaign dwindling, the family is taking a more active role.
Family matriarch Barbara Bush had hit the campaign trail in New Hampshire, delighting voters with her outspoken style and tenacity, as the 90-year-old traipsed through snow to get to events. Her elderly husband is too frail to campaign, but has sent fundraising emails on his son's behalf.
Bush's campaign knows there are risks in wrapping the candidate in his family's deep political history. Trump's unexpected rise has underscored the public's frustration with Republican Party leaders and anyone considered part of the political establishment.
But perhaps with little left to lose, Bush seems to be growing not just tolerant of his family's long shadow, but also comfortable with it.
Asked during a town hall event in New Hampshire how he could try to distinguish himself from people reluctant to see a third Bush to serve as president, he said simply, "People are just going to have to get over it."
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (AP) — Pope Francis denounced the centuries-old exploitation and social exclusion of Mexico's Indians on Monday, saying the world should instead ask their forgiveness and learn from their culture and appreciation of nature.
Francis celebrated the Indians during a visit to the southern state of Chiapas, a center of indigenous culture. He presided over a Mass in three native languages in a service that also featured a traditional dance of prayer and a celebration of married deacons in Chiapas, whose role has been revived under his papacy.
In his homily, history's first Latin American pope melded two of his core concerns: appreciation for indigenous cultures and the need to care for the environment.
"We can no longer remain silent before one of the greatest environmental crises in world history," he told the crowd of several thousand indigenous people, some in traditional dress, who gathered under clear blue skies at a sports complex in the mountain city of San Cristobal de las Casas.
"In this regard, you have much to teach us."
The soft sounds of marimbas accompanied the Mass, which was celebrated in front of a replica of the brilliant yellow and red facade of the San Cristobal cathedral, where Francis visited later in the day.
Crowds chanted "Long live the pope of the poor!" and "Welcome, pope of the struggle!" as he arrived. Some 500,000 faithful were expected to see the pope in the city, including about 100,000 who gathered on the dirt field for the Mass.
Francis issued a sweeping apology last year for the Catholic Church's colonial-era crimes against America's indigenous. He revisited the issue again Monday, denouncing how, "in a systematic and organized way," indigenous people have been misunderstood and excluded from society over the course of history.
"Some have considered your values, culture and traditions to be inferior," he said. "Others, intoxicated by power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands or contaminated them."
He called for a collective "Forgive me."
"Today's world, ravaged as it is by a throwaway culture, needs you!"
The pope has frequently expressed admiration for indigenous peoples, particularly their sense of being custodians of the environment. As archbishop in Argentina, he was heavily responsible for a major document of the entire Latin American church hierarchy in which bishops praised the harmonious way indigenous people live with nature. As pope, he penned an environmental encyclical denouncing the exploitation of the planet by the rich at the expense of the poor.
Indigenous communities have legal rights to much of Mexico's forest and desert lands, and have long battled with outsiders to protect them — and to share in the revenues they produce. Mining and commercial logging interests that were granted concessions by national or state governments long denuded or polluted indigenous lands.
Francis' visit to Chiapas and celebration of native culture is in many ways a swipe at the Mexican church hierarchy, which has long sought to downplay the local culture and bristled at the "Indian church," a mixture of Catholicism and indigenous culture that includes pine boughs, eggs and references to "God the Father and Mother."
It was a tradition that was embraced by the late bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Samuel Ruiz, who ran afoul of both the Mexican church and the Vatican at times for his support for indigenous culture. While Ruiz is still a controversial figure, Francis' decision to come to San Cristobal, celebrate the Indians and use the local languages and customs in Mass was a strong sign that he was on Ruiz's side.
Shortly after midnight, worshippers began filing into the site of the Mass, which included readings, prayers and hymns in the three main indigenous languages of Chiapas: Tzeltal, Tzotzil and Chol, which are spoken by just over 1 million people, according to Mexico's latest census.
The pope presented an official decree authorizing at least one of the languages to be used, some 50 years after the Second Vatican Council paved the way for Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than in Latin.
His predecessor, John Paul II, also dabbled with comments in Indian languages during a 1990 visit to Chiapas, though less formally.
Despite the pope's overture, residents of Chiapas said they believe Francis is coming mostly to confirm their faith, not their status as indigenous.
"It doesn't matter that I'm indigenous; I think it's more that I'm Catholic," said Emanuel Gomez, a 22-year-old Tzotzil man. "The pope comes to encourage our hearts and faith as Catholics."
He added, though, that the visit would "lift us up so we don't feel scorned by the powerful and rich."
According to government statistics, about 46 percent of Mexicans were living in poverty in 2014. That number surges in Chiapas, where some 76 percent were poor and 32 percent in extreme poverty, the highest for any Mexican state.
Francis has insisted that his is a "poor church, for the poor." After the Mass, Francis was scheduled to hear testimony from Chiapas families about the hardships they face.
"He comes to redeem an entire struggle by the people," said the Rev. Marcelino Perez, an indigenous priest who was charged with translating the homily into Tzotzil.
San Cristobal is home to two of the most famed religious defenders of indigenous people in Mexican history: Bishops Bartolome de las Casas in the 16th century and Ruiz, who died in 2011.
Both were beloved by indigenous people and widely reviled among the wealthy classes and much of the church hierarchy. Many officials accused Ruiz of acting on behalf of Zapatista rebels in their 1994 uprising for greater indigenous rights.
Part of the liberation theology movement that swept Latin America after Vatican II, Ruiz tried to fend off the rapid growth of Protestant denominations by adapting to indigenous customs.
One of his measures was to rely heavily on married male lay workers because local culture granted more respect to men with children than to childless, celibate men such as priests. Some in the church worried the married deacons were taking on priestly functions.
In 2002, under Pope John Paul II, the Vatican asked the Chiapas diocese to halt deacon ordinations. But under Francis, the ordinations were renewed in 2014.
In a sign that Ruiz remains a controversial figure, the Vatican declined to say whether Francis would pray at his tomb during his visit to the cathedral.