‘A madman who must be stopped’: GOP hopefuls sharpen their attacks on Donald Trump
With the second primetime Republican debate of the 2016 presidential campaign just hours away, Donald Trump’s rivals are taking aim at the current GOP frontrunner — including some who won’t have the opportunity to do so on stage.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — who has been relegated to Wednesday’s early “undercard” debate — says Trump is “a madman who must be stopped.”
“Like all narcissists, Trump is insecure, weak and afraid of being exposed,” Jindal wrote in an op-ed published on CNN.com. “That’s why he’s constantly telling us how big and rich and great he is, and how insignificant everyone else is.”
“Like a kid in a superhero costume, Trump compares himself to Ronald Reagan, wearing the Gipper’s slogan on his forehead as if he just thought of it,” Jindal continued. “But whereas Reagan was a terrible entertainer and a great statesman, Trump is a great entertainer who would be a terrible statesman.”
Trump speaks aboard the USS Iowa battleship in Los Angeles on Tuesday. (Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)
The Louisiana governor also criticized Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s support of Trump.
“Ted Cruz is clinging to Trump like a limpet to an oil tanker, hoping to suck up his votes when Trump eventually sinks,” Jindal wrote, adding, “Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of a Donald Trump. I love the idea of an outsider who doesn’t care about political correctness and who says things you’re not supposed to. Unfortunately, Donald Trump is the wrong messenger. From the moment he announced his candidacy, everybody knew that, but nobody had the backbone to say it.”
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who sparred with the real estate mogul during the first GOP debate, said he was too “easy” on Trump last time around.
“I will make sure that everybody in the country knows that he’s a fake conservative, and there’s nothing conservative about Donald Trump other than that he wants the Trump brand to be out there,” Paul said Tuesday. “When Americans know that, when conservatives know that, they’re going to run away with their hair on fire.”
Paul predicted Trump’s controversial comments about Carly Fiorina’s face were a precursor to his campaign’s fall: “People are going to finally decide, ‘You know what, do we really want someone in charge of our nuclear arsenal who goes around basically using the insults of a junior high [student] or a sophomore in high school?’”
Trump tosses a baseball cap from the stage after speaking aboard the USS Iowa battleship in Los Angeles. (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/AP)
“There’s nothing behind the curtain,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who will also take part in the undercard debate, has said of Trump’s candidacy.
Earlier this month, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio pointed to a radio interview in which Trump struggled to identify prominent terror leaders.
“If you don’t know the answer to these questions, then you are not going to be able to serve as commander and chief,” Rubio said.
In an interview with CNBC that aired Wednesday, Fiorina criticized Trump’s involvement in bankruptcy cases.
“If you file for bankruptcy four times,” the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive said, “I think it suggests either lack of judgment or lack of discipline.”
Meanwhile, the Jeb Bush super-PAC Right to Rise released an online ad Tuesday contrasting the former Florida governor’s “bright” message with Trump’s doomsday rhetoric.
“One candidate is in a dark place,” text appearing at the beginning of the ad reads. “Choose a brighter path.”
Republican hopefuls weren’t the only politicians slinging verbal arrows at Trump. Vice President Joe Biden, who is currently mulling a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, slammed the “sick message” Trump is spreading about Mexican immigrants.
“There’s one guy absolutely denigrating an entire group of people, appealing to the baser side of human nature, working on this notion of xenophobia in a way that hasn’t occurred in a long time,” Biden said at a Hispanic Heritage Month reception at his Washington residence. “Unless you are a Native American, your family came from someplace else.”
The vice president also predicted Trump’s campaign will ultimately fail.
“This will pass: Trump, and that stuff that you’re hearing on the other team,” Biden said.
