Donald Trump attacks Republicans, Democrats alike
So much for unifying the Republican Party.
Donald Trump went on a tear against prominent GOP figures Saturday, leveling attacks at former presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham after the two Republicans refused to support Trump's presidential bid earlier this week.
"Jeb Bush, frankly, he's got no talent because he says bad things about me," Trump told supporters in Spokane, Washington.
Earlier this week, Bush, a former Florida governor and one-time GOP contender, said he "will not vote for Donald Trump" in November -- a piece of news Trump glommed on to in Saturday's speech.
"You know, [Bush] signed a pledge," the billionaire said, referring to the Republican National Committee's "loyalty pledge" from last year. Those who signed agreed they would not run as third-party candidates and that they would also support the eventual GOP nominee. "They thought I'd run independent, they all wanted me to sign a pledge. I said, 'I'll sign a pledge.' A pledge means something."
Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to break his own loyalty pledge, criticized Bush for not keeping up his end of the bargain.
"Jeb Bush, a very low energy individual, signed a pledge," he repeated. "While he was signing it, he fell asleep -- so maybe that's his excuse."
Later, he added, "the only reason I speak badly about him is he speaks badly about me."
Trump launched a variation of this attack earlier in the day on Twitter, saying Bush and Graham, who also signed the loyalty pledge, had "no honor":
Of Graham, who has made his disdain for Trump known throughout the primary season, the presumptive GOP nominee dubbed him a "lightweight like I have never seen."
"Ultimately, because of me, he was forced out" of the primary race, Trump said, taking credit for the South Carolina senator's failed presidential bid.
"When we went to South Carolina, he thought he'd have power in South Carolina," he said. Trump, ever the jack of all trades when it comes to insults, added: "My son Barron, who's 5 years old, had far more power than he did."
Trump ratcheted down his rhetoric only slightly when taking aim at House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said Thursday that he was "not ready" to support the business mogul in his White House bid.
"Most everybody has endorsed me -- other than Paul Ryan," Trump said, to loud booing from the crowd. "I don't know what went wrong there...But we'll see."
"I would imagine things will be OK with Paul Ryan. We'll see...I would bet if he had the decision to do it again he would have done it the simple way, 'I endorse Trump,'" he said, previewing a meeting next week with congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., that could significantly jack up the stakes in coalescing GOP support.
During Trump's Spokane rally, a few Democrats were put on the chopping block as well, including possible general election rival Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
"She's married to a man who is the worst abuser of women in the history of politics," Trump said of the former secretary of state. "She's married to a man who hurt many women, and Hillary, if you look and you study, Hillary hurt many women -- the women that he abused."
Clinton, he added, was her husband's "enabler," and "some of those women were destroyed not by him, but by the way Hillary Clinton treated them after everything went down."
On Friday, Trump also tied to Clinton another notable female Democrat: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who he called "goofy" and "Hillary Clinton's flunky" in a series of tweets.
Warren responded to Trump on the social media platform later in the day, defending her claims of Native American heritage and calling Trump's attacks "pretty lame":