GOP presidential candidates on Saturday were quick to condemn Donald Trump’s controversial comments about Fox News host and GOP debate moderator Megyn Kelly.
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Following Trump’s interview with Don Lemon on “CNN Tonight”, where Trump said the Fox News host had “blood coming out of her wherever” during Thursday’s Republican debate, Fiorina tweeted her disapproval. Mr. Trump is an outsider and does not fit his agenda. Do we want to insult 53% of all voters?
During Thursday’s debate, Kelly pressed Trump about misogynistic, sexist comments he made in the past, such as calling some women “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals”.
“Also, not only is Erick a total loser, he has a history of supporting establishment losers in failed campaigns so it is an honor to be uninvited from this event”, Trump’s campaign statement read. “There. Is. No. Excuse”. They said they stood with the journalist. As a party, we are better to risk losing without Donald Trump than trying to win with him.
Mr Erickson said he had invited Ms Kelly to attend in place of Mr Trump in the evening.
“South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted, “.@RealDonaldTrump unrelenting & offensive comments about @MegynKelly puts the @GOP at a crossroads w/Mr. Trump”, adding that he applauds Erickson, who is also a Fox News contributor, for disinviting Trump. When he got another, the former Arkansas governor quipped: “I’m running for president”.
“You know, this is the danger that when you start going in the social media stuff and tweeting stuff and maybe you hire somebody to do it for you“, said Limbaugh.
Trump also took to Twitter on Saturday to renounce politically correct attitudes, as he had done at the debate.
In a statement, the Trump campaign called the pulled invitation “just another example of weakness through being politically correct. We don’t like it when Democrats do it”.
Not wanting to give him that chance was Dulcy Forte, 68, of Austin, Texas, already turned off by Trump’s suggestion that he might not support the eventual GOP nominee – if it’s not him.
Responding to Trump’s attack on him, Erickson said, “it is not political correctness – it is common sense”.
Trump contended on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that it’s Bush who has the problem with women, thanks to a comment Bush made that last week when discussing cutting off federal money for Planned Parenthood.
“Personally, we need to make up our own minds if someone is stupid“, said Jack Staver, a business consultant from Woodstock, Georgia.
WERTHEIMER: I can’t even repeat what you said about him. But, certainly, I don’t have a lot of respect for Megyn Kelly…
Some other candidates have at least tacitly acknowledged the tightrope they must walk with Trump’s supporters.
Within the aftermath of his feedback, Trump was this weekend, the RedState Gathering. And in recent weeks, Bush has on several occasions differentiated Trump from his backers, whom he calls “good people“.
Trump slammed Kelly, saying her questions were “ridiculous” and “off-base”.
“This is my event, that I’m paying for and I can do whatever I want”, he said.
In a late-night interview with the Guardian, Erickson said he initially approached Trump’s campaign about the Kelly statement and that “they wouldn’t deny” it was a reference to menstruation. His campaign announced Saturday afternoon that he had fired one of his top advisers, Roger Stone.
The real estate mogul had been scheduled to appear at a special tailgate at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta at the close of RedState Gathering on Saturday night.
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According to an email obtained by the Associated Press, Stone wrote to Trump, “The current controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights have reached such a high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message”.
