The bombastic billionaire came under fire from his own party after a particularly crude accusation that Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, one of the moderators at Thursday’s Republican presidential debate, had singled him out with rough treatment at that forum.
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Of blogger Erick Erickson’s decision to revoke Trump’s invitation to the weekend’s conservative RedState Gathering, Trump said Sunday: “This guy’s a loser”.
He told NBC, “She asked, I thought, a very unfair question, and so did everybody on social media”, a reference to Kelly’s question during the debate of Trump’s earlier disparaging remarks about women. “I’m going to do things for women that no other candidate will be able to do”, he said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union, ‘ promising to do more for women’s health care than anyone. And then I said you know what, I’m going to get on to the next sentence because frankly I don’t have to talk about the blood coming out of her ears and her nose.
“I think women of all kinds are really sort of horrified by this”, Carly Fiorina, the only woman running for the Republican ticket, said.
Donald Trump already had slammed the president, the Democratic Party and his Republican presidential rivals. “He has such a spotty record”.
Mr Trump hit back by pointing out that Mr Bush risked alienating female voters last week when he said women’s health didn’t need $500m of federal funding.
The campaign claimed that the 900 activists who had wanted to hear from Trump on Saturday evening were contacting the campaign to complain about Erickson and others who “are trying to be so politically correct“. “I want to help women”.
That amounts to a change of tune for Rubio, who said Trump’s remarks about McCain disqualified him from the presidency and were “an insult to all POWs”. Some said they were anxious Trump could damage Republicans in the long term. “I mean, I said nothing wrong”.
Trump has repeatedly attacked his fellow candidates, accusing Perry, the former Texas governor, of wearing glasses to look smarter and calling Graham, a US senator from South Carolina, an “idiot”.
Also on Sunday, he said on ABC’s This Week: “I’ve had such an awesome relationship with women in business”.
Trump’s top political operative and strategist, Roger Stone, resigned.
The extraordinary exchange with Tapper showed how quickly Trump has shifted from a high-flying frontrunner to the public face in a campaign in turmoil. “She asked me a very nasty question”, he said on “This Week”.
Real-estate mogul Donald Trump’s Megyn Kelly comments don’t appear to be hurting his standing in the polls.
In the hour after the debate, Fox News featured Luntz’s focus group, as well as commentary from hosts and guests who described Trump’s performance as a “collapse”. “And I don’t think vulgarity equates with insight”, he said. They are wonderful executives.
“You don’t get things done by insulting people“. Trump said he vehemently disagreed with that statement.
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That’s not to say that The Donald was in apologetic mode.
