During his rally Monday at Grand Rapids’ DeltaPlex Arena, Donald Trump used crude language to portray Hillary Clinton as someone who constantly loses, citing her race against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
“She was favored to win and she got schlonged, she lost,” he said.
He also mocked Clinton for returning to the debate late following a commercial break. “I thought she quit, I thought she gave up,” Trump joked.
He later seemed to acknowledge reports that she got delayed waiting to use a restroom: “I know where she went. It’s disgusting, I don’t want to talk about it.”
Trump argued that he is the last person Clinton wants to run against in a general election.
“Ask Jeb Bush if he enjoys running against me,” he said of the former Florida governor who has been struggling to gain traction despite a massive early fundraising advantage.
“Ask Lindsey Graham, did he enjoy running against Trump?” he said of the South Carolina senator who on Monday announced his departure from the race.
The comments were the latest in a back-and-forth between Clinton and Trump, which started when Clinton said during a Democratic Party debate that the ISIS group used videos of his comments about Muslims to recruit militants.
During Saturday’s faceoff among Democrats, Clinton said Trump had become the ISIS’s “best recruiter” and said, “They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.” There was no evidence to back the claim, and a spokeswoman later said, “She didn’t have a particular video in mind.” And Trump demanded an apology from her, calling Clinton a “liar.”
But, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon, asked Monday by MSNBC if Clinton would apologize to Trump, insisted, “Hell no.”
Trump at his rally also defended the kind words he’s been exchanging with Russian President Vladimir Putin, brushing off criticism that he has been too kind to the Russian president.
“That’s like a good thing, not a bad thing,” he insisted. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get along like with people?”
And he made clear that he is opposed to the killing of journalists, after appearing to brush off concerns about Putin’s record on a Sunday morning news show.
“I don’t like that, I’m totally against that,” said Trump. “By the way, I hate some of these people ... and some of them are such lying, disgusting people, it’s true. But I would never kill. And anybody that does I think would be despicable.”
