Cruz assails Trump for ‘political correctness’ on bathroom law

Donald Trump’s criticism of North Carolina’s controversial bathroom law has given Ted Cruz room to attack him from the right, with the Texan calling Trump’s position “politically correct.”

{mosads}In the hours following Trump’s appearance on NBC’s “Today” Thursday morning, during which he said that the Tar Heel State is “paying a big price” over the law, Cruz delivered a series of barbs against the businessman. 

“Donald on television this morning said gosh, he thought that men should be able to go into the girls’ bathroom if they want to,” the Texas senator said during a rally in Frederick, Md., Thursday morning.

“A few months ago, Donald told us he could be the most politically correct person on Earth. Now I guess he’s showing us what that looks like,” he added. “I am waiting with anticipation for the new baseball caps that say ‘Make PC Great Again,’” a play on Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make American Great Again.”

Cruz is also echoing these attacks on social media, retweeting the hashtag “Make PC Great Again” and declaring that the North Carolina law is common sense. 

Common sense: grown men shouldn’t be in bathrooms w/ little girls. @realDonaldTrump told us he could be PC, but wow. https://t.co/WB93ATZYy4

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 21, 2016

#MakePCGreatAgain https://t.co/9yk9ngDYmO

— Team Cruz (@TeamTedCruz) April 21, 2016

The law, which went into effect on March 26, requires that transgender people use bathrooms designated for the gender that they were born with as dictated on a their birth certificate. It has prompted outrage, with opponents saying that it unfairly targets those in the LGBT community and that it is already illegal for adults to sexually harass children in bathrooms.

Conservatives like Cruz say the law is a necessary measure to protect children from predators.

“When you deal with people who are repulsive perverts and criminals — there are some bad people in the world and we shouldn’t be facilitating putting little girls alone in a bathroom with grown, adult men. That is just a bad, bad, bad idea,” Cruz said during a radio interview with Glenn Beck Thursday morning.

Trump’s opposition to the law could give more ammunition to critics who say he isn’t a true conservative. That faction of the Republican Party blasted the front-runner for saying in March that women should be punished for having illegal abortions. Trump later walked back the comment.

“Donald Trump is no different from politically correct leftist elites,” Cruz said in a statement. “Today, he joined them in calling for grown men to be allowed to use little girls’ public restrooms. As the dad of young daughters, I dread what this will mean for our daughters — and for our sisters and our wives. It is a reckless policy that will endanger our loved ones.

“This is not real tolerance. The Left wants to force its belief system onto Americans across the country and silence people of faith in the public square. Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump is all too eager to join them. This simply confirms that the same man who favored partial-birth abortion and still supports public funding for Planned Parenthood will sacrifice principle on the altar of political correctness. Trump will not defeat political correctness. Today he bowed to it.”