Well that didn’t take long.
Donald Trump went on a Twitter rant on Tuesday attacking Republican leaders and the Republican party itself after many top members either un-endorsed Trump or severely criticized him in the wake of ‘P—y’-gate. (On Friday, a video leaked showing Trump bragging to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about sexually assaulting women.)
Trump’s latest tweet storm is yet another indicator that he has decided to enact a scorched earth policy for the remainder of his campaign.
Trump began by blaming Speaker of the House Paul Ryan for his declining support, saying “it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!” Trump also erroneously claimed to have won the second debate in every poll (major polls all have Clinton as the winner).
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785816454042124288
Trump went on to call Ryan “disloyal” and a “weak and ineffective leader.”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785828772423561216
On Monday, Ryan told fellow Republicans that he can no longer defend or campaign with Trump. However, he refused to un-endorse him.
CBS News reports on Ryan’s conference call to GOP members:
In the wake of [Trump’s ‘grab them by the p—y’] remarks, House Speaker Paul Ryan held a conference call on Monday in which he said he won’t defend or campaign for Trump, but instead will devote the final weeks before the election to ensuring the House retains a Republican majority. He encouraged his fellow party members to make their own decisions about supporting Trump.
“You all need to do what’s best for you in your district,” Ryan told his members. He did not say that he was rescinding his endorsement of Trump.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) also held an emergency conference call on Monday evening led by its chairman, Reince Priebus. He reassured that the committee is in full coordination with the Trump campaign, and that nothing has changed in terms of supporting the top of the ticket, the audio recordings revealed.
ABC News reports on Ryan’s response:
Asked to respond to Trump’s criticism, a representative from Ryan’s office told ABC News, “Paul Ryan is focusing the next month on defeating Democrats, and all Republicans running for office should probably do the same.”
After launching his attack on Tuesday, Trump claimed that his “shackles have been taken off” and he can now campaign the way he wants to.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785842546878578688
He then attacked the Republican party itself for being ‘disloyal’ while praising Democrats for being faithful to their nominee. Of course, he managed to get in a jab about how the Democratic primary was allegedly rigged against Bernie Sanders.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785846205750337537
Trump even went so far as to say that “disloyal” Republicans “are far more difficult” to deal with than his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785854588654092290
Trump’s most recent tweet went after Senator John McCain for un-endorsing him.
There are no excuses for Donald Trump’s offensive behavior. Cindy & I will not vote for him. My full stmt: https://t.co/MOw0rx4LSI
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) October 8, 2016
Said Trump, “The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785885793340448769
Watch McCain explain why he un-endorsed Trump during his Senatorial debate on Monday night, below.
