Less than 24 hours after hugging and praising Donald Trump for raising money for veterans, Rick Santorum has lashed out at the Republican presidential front-runner, saying in no way can he be considered conservative, especially on issues like abortion.
Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania and GOP presidential candidate whose poll numbers are in the low single digits, said Friday on
Newsmax TV's "The Steve Malzberg Show":
"Look at Donald Trump's record and you can find out what his positions are and most of them are not conservative.
"I agree with Donald Trump on a few things. One of them is immigration and I applaud him for making that the centerpiece. Another one is his focus on blue collar workers and that's another big thing.
"[But] on abortion he's not going to enforce [bans on] it and [same-sex] marriage and a whole host of issues."
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Santorum's remarks follow his appearance on an Iowa stage Thursday night with Trump, who staged
a fundraising event to benefit military veterans. He and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee surprised many by accepting Trump's invitation to speak at his rally.
The event was held opposite Fox News Channel's staging of the seventh GOP presidential debate, which the billionaire developer boycotted after the network refused to yank moderator Megyn Kelly, whom he is warring with, and issued a smarmy press release saying he'd face tougher challenges than Kelly if elected.
Asked about Trump's pull-out, Santorum bristled, telling Malzberg the issue of the billionaire developer debating or not debating should not be an issue in a presidential race with far more pressing concerns.
"I wish I had a nickel for every question I got about Donald Trump. Look, what Donald Trump decides to do is Donald Trump's business. I don't care," Santorum said.
"Donald Trump gets enough of his own [publicity]. I don't need to spend the time I have on talking to the American public talking about Donald Trump!"
Asked if he plans to withdraw from the race if he doesn't rank as one of the top three candidates in the Iowa caucuses, Santorum said he hopes to win.
"I think I have to do well here and break out of the pack to get some momentum. I'm very hopeful that we're going to be able to do that. We'll make an assessment just like very campaign will after Iowa, after New Hampshire and after South Carolina," he said.
"We're committed to go out there and run. My plan is to hop on a plane if I can get out of snowy Iowa and we're going to hit South Carolina the next day. I'm excited to take the campaign to South Carolina next."
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