Donald Trump stepped over a line. The real estate mogul has been making headlines for his over-the-top, frequently insulting opinions, but he apparently went too far with sexist comments directed against Megyn Kelly, who was one of the moderators at Thursday’s Republican presidential debate. Trump spent much of Friday criticizing Kelly, who had the temerity to ask Trump about his constant use of derogatory language toward women and whether it reflected the “temperament of a man we should elect as president.” On CNN on Friday, Trump called Kelly’s questions “ridiculous” before going for the full-on insult: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”
For RedState’s Erick Erickson, it was a step too far for the presidential hopeful, who has made a campaign out of calling Mexican immigrants rapists. Erickson explained in a RedState post:
It was not the “blood coming out of her eyes” part that was the problem.
I think there is no way to otherwise interpret Mr. Trump’s comment. In an attempted clarification, Mr. Trump’s team tells me he meant “whatever”, not “where ever.”
…
But I also think that while Mr. Trump resonates with a lot of people with his bluntness, including me to a degree, there are just real lines of decency a person running for President should not cross.
His comment was inappropriate. It is unfortunate to have to disinvite him. But I just don’t want someone on stage who gets a hostile question from a lady and his first inclination is to imply it was hormonal. It just was wrong.
(Side note: Why Erickson chooses to write “lady” seems a bit baffling in this context, but let’s leave that aside for now.)
The Trump campaign issued a statement calling the move “another example of weakness through being politically correct,” adding that those who wanted to see the business mogul at the event should “blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader.”
Erickson fired back on Twitter saying that Trump “confuses political correctness and common decency.”
Trump also took to Twitter to defend his statement, adding that “political correctness is killing our country.”
