Donald Trump has the pathological habit of responding to every criticism by lashing out with vicious personal ad hominem attacks against the critic and, if possible, his or her family. He did it in the primary campaign, most notably by mocking the appearance of Ted Cruz’s wife and accusing his father of complicity in the Kennedy assassination.
Now he has struck out at a father whose son was killed fighting in Iraq for criticizing him at the Democratic convention. Also at the fallen soldier’s mother, even though she never said anything.
But it keeps going: The two Republicans who most took him to task for insulting the grieving family were House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain. So Trump is retaliating against them by refusing to support them in their re-election primary campaigns!
These men, professional Republicans that they are, have swallowed their misgivings and said that they are supporting Trump. But he won’t support them. So much for party unity.
Imagine the retaliations that would be possible for President Trump!
From Stephen Collinson, Donald Trump’s strange campaign gets stranger | News OK:
Donald Trump is testing just how far he can push his unconventional campaign without wrecking it.
The Republican nominee shattered traditional political boundaries Tuesday when he told The Washington Post he isn’t backing House Speaker Paul Ryan or Sen. John McCain as they face primary challenges. The two leading Republicans seemingly angered Trump with their denunciation of his criticism of the family of a slain Muslim US soldier.
Trump’s comments — delivered to a newspaper he’s banned from attending his events since mid-June — capped a bizarre day on the campaign trail that also included asking for a crying baby to be removed from a rally and causing a stir over Purple Heart recipients.
In his interview with the Post, Trump criticized Ryan, saying, “We need very strong leadership.”
“We need very, very strong leadership,” Ryan said. “And I’m just not quite there yet. I’m not quite there yet.”
Trump’s phrasing — “I’m not quite there yet” — echoes comments Ryan made to CNN’s Jake Tapper in May when he said he wasn’t yet ready to back his party’s standard-bearer. Zach Roday, a Ryan campaign spokesman, said the speaker hasn’t asked for Trump’s endorsement and is “confident in a victory next week regardless.”
Trump’s comments come as he is under the most severe bipartisan fire of his campaign following his criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son Humayun Khan, died in Iraq in 2004. The Khans delivered one of the most powerful appearances at last week’s Democratic National Convention, where Khizr said Trump has “sacrificed nothing and no one.”
Trump responded by criticizing Ghazala Khan’s silence, suggesting she wasn’t allowed to speak because of her religion and saying he made plenty of sacrifices for his business.
[Keep reading. . .]
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In