NEWWARK, N.J. — Republican presidential contender Rick Perry on Wednesday branded Donald Trump’s candidacy a “cancer on conservatism” in the strongest denunciation yet of the billionaire’s provocations in the campaign.
Perry’s blistering criticism came after Trump announced plans to visit the Mexico border, a flashpoint in the primary contest ever since he declared that Mexican immigrants in the U.S. illegally are rapists and drug dealers.
Trump’s announcement signaled there would be no backing down — indeed, a possible further escalation — in his feud with presidential rivals and other figures in the party. That feud was sparked by his comments about immigrants last month and accelerated when he mocked Arizona Sen. John McCain’s experience as a tortured prisoner in the Vietnam War.
The Republican field was at first halting in responding to Trump’s comments, but contenders reacted when he insulted McCain, with several saying Trump was not fit to be president. Now Perry, a former Texas governor, has taken the pushback further.
“He offers a barking carnival act that can be best described as Trumpism: a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued,” Perry said in a speech in Washington hosted by a super political action committee supporting his campaign.
“Let no one be mistaken,” Perry said, “Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded. It cannot be pacified or ignored, for it will destroy a set of principles that has lifted more people out of poverty than any force in the history of the civilized world — the cause of conservatism.”
Trump plans to travel to Laredo, Texas, on Thursday, where he will hold a news conference at the border, meet members of the union that represents Border Patrol agents and speak to law enforcement officers, his campaign said.
The billionaire’s taste for payback against those who criticize him was demonstrated Tuesday when he gave out Sen. Lindsey Graham’s cellphone number to a crowd and TV audience, resulting in jammed voice-mail for the senator.
This was after Graham, one of the GOP candidates, called Trump “the world’s biggest jackass.”
Graham made light of the episode Wednesday, appearing in a video entitled “How to destroy your cellphone with Lindsey Graham.” In the video, released by the conservative media outlet, IJReview, Graham attacks a flip phone with a knife, golf club, sword and more, puts it in a blender, sets it on fire and drops it from a roof.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, another contender, told Fox News on Wednesday that the country needs a president who “restores dignity and class to the White House” and that Trump is not worthy of the office.
