Jeb Bush takes on Donald Trump over Megyn Kelly attack

In one of many memorable Donald Trump moments at Thursday’s first GOP debate, moderator Megyn Kelly honed in on the presidential candidate for the disparaging comments he’s made about women on Twitter.

After the first GOP debate, Trump told CNN that moderator Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever” while she asked him hard questions.

Just before midnight, Erickson – an author with his own track record of inflammatory remarks, sometimes about women – wrote on the RedState website that he admired Trump for his bluntness and for connecting with “so much of the anger in the Republican base”. “It just was wrong”.

His campaign added: “This is just another example of weakness through being politically correct. Blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader”.

“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, snobs and disgusting animals”, she said. Hurt by her line of questioning, he endorsed tweets calling her a “bimbo,” “hostile and unprofessional,” and “astonishingly biased.” But he turned up the tone on Friday when he told CNN that Kelly ‘is just somebody I didn’t have a lot of respect for.’.

Yet Trump remains a towering presence in the 17-candidate field, and his supporters at the RedState event – along with several other uncommitted attendees – said the latest flap simply reaffirms why his uncompromising approach appeals to voters who are disgusted with conventional politicians, including those in the GOP.

His campaign said “only a deviant would think anything else” about Trump’s comment about Kelly.

Without mentioning Trump’s name, Jeb Bush made reference to him when he spoke to RedState.

“I’m hoping that Mr. Trump, because he does speak off the cuff, because he doesn’t ascribe to political correctness, was speaking in a way that wasn’t fully thought out”, Spicer said.

Trump has a long history of lobbing insults at those he feels have treated him unfairly, and advises those who buy his books to do the same. “Little MacMiller, I’m now going to teach you a big boy lesson about lawsuits and finance”. Mr Trump later denied this in a tweet. In April, he retweeted, then deleted, a tweet that read, “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?”