No love lost between Trump and GOP stars

WASHINGTON: Adding a "goofy" Elizabeth Warren to "Crooked" Hillary Clinton in his cast of wild caricaturing, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump carried his toxic presidential campaign a few notches further down on Friday even as fissures in the GOP widened over his candidature.

Paul Ryan, technically the highest-ranking Republican as the US House Speaker (because he is third in line of succession to the White House if the President and vice-president are incapacitated or removed), said on Friday he is not ready to back Trump, as did the 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney . Several other grandees, including the Bush family , has bailed out on him, while others like Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, his predecessor Bob Dole, and 2008 candidate John McCain are holding their nose and coming around in the interest of the party .

Trump's response to any rejection has been a slash-and-burn outburst that is expected to singe the party at the polls.

After Paul Ryan's rebuff, Trump's campaign said he is not fit to be the House Speaker, which means that should Trump come out on top, there will be turmoil among House Republicans. Ditto on the Senate side, where Trump turned on Lindsey Graham furiously after the South Carolina senator said he would not support him.

Trump sulfurously reminded him that he (Graham) did not poll even 1% of votes in his own state primaries that he (Trump) carried by 40% in the nomination scrap. Another victim of Trump's slash-and-burn campaign to take charge of the GOP was South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who was a Marco Rubio supporter and who said she would not be interested in a Trump vice-presidential ticket. Trump's response: Who asked her?
While Republicans reeled from the Trump scythe, he also went after Democrats, leading with Hillary Clinton, who he called "an unbelievably nasty , mean enabler" of her husband's alleged affairs and accused her of destroying the lives of his accusers.

The attack signaled reality of his threat that Clintons' past peccadillos is fair game in the campaign, which means Democrats will also be digging for dirt in the Trump past. Trump also lashed out at Massachusetts' liberal senator Elizabeth Warren, calling her "goofy...weak and ineffective" following her critiques on social media. "I hope corrupt Hillary Clinton chooses goofy Elizabeth Warren as her running mate. I will defeat them both," Trump bragged on Twitter, despite efforts by his camp to restrain him on social media.

Warren in turn called Trump a "bully" whose racism, sexism, and xenophobia made her sick. The exchanges on social media pointed to an upcoming battle of hashtags with supporters on both sides riding on #NeverTrump, #DropoutHillary and other such exhortation. The incredible rancour that Trump is generating all around is actually resulting in a gradual realignment of some forces. Hillary Clinton is now reaching out to moderate Republicans, refashioning some of her policies to appeal to white, blue-collar voters.

It appears right now that Donald Trump is a long way off from riding into the White House on thundering hooves.