If GOP presidential candidates held reservations about calling Donald Trump out over disparaging remarks about Mexicans, they aren't holding back in lambasting his opinion of Megyn Kelly.
Days after saying the Fox News anchor had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her - wherever," Trump appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Monday morning to demand an apology from Kelly for asking a "stupid" question.
"She should really be apologizing to me, you want the truth. And other candidates have said that," Trump said. "Others of the - if you wanna call them - candidates came up to intermission and said 'boy, that was unfair what they did to you,' and everybody felt that."
Kelly's question, which came early in last Thursday's Fox News Republican presidential debate, reverted to multiple cases where the real estate mogul has called women "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals," to which he interrupted by claiming he only said it about Rosie O'Donnell.
Trump defended his comments in ensuing interviews - including the "blood" comment" - by insisting he values women and has done nothing wrong.
"There was anger spewing out of her eyes, this is what I was talking about, blood pouring out of her eyes, then I went a little bit further," Trump said. "I didn't even finish my statement, that's the amazing thing, because I would have said 'nose and ears' because it's a very common thing."
Fellow Republicans weren't convinced. Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, and Jeb Bush were among presidential hopefuls to side with Kelly, and Carly Fiorina - the most prominent female candidate outside of Hillary Clinton - called the remarks "completely inappropriate and offensive."
"I've had lots of men imply that, um - I was unfit for decision-making because maybe I was having my period," Fiorina in speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday.
"When I started this campaign, I was asked on national television shows whether a woman's hormones prevented her from serving in the Oval Office. My response was, can we think of a single instance in which a man's hormones might have clouded his judgement?"
Trump fired back hours later in a Tweet saying Fiorina gives him a headache.
I just realized that if you listen to Carly Fiorina for more than ten minutes straight, you develop a massive headache. She has zero chance!" Trump tweeted, referring to the former Hewlett-Packard executive's chances of winning the GOP nomination.
For her part, Kelly has not responded to any of Trump's comments, either on social media or in her primetime show, "The Kelly File." That isn't to say Kelly's line of questioning wasn't without merit.
Trump often thrusts himself into the public limelight with off-the-cuff commentary, regardless of his target's gender.
In 2006, Trump referred to O'Donnell as a "disgusting person inside and out," and a "slob" with a "fat, ugly face" in a single interview on The Insider. Four years later, New York Times opinion writer Gail Collins said she received a copy of her article from Trump in which he wrote "face of a dog" aside her picture.
One of his more disturbing comments came while filming "The Apprentice" in 2013. During a sit-down with contestants, Trump joked that it would be a "pretty picture" if Playboy model Brande Roderick got on her knees. Roderick, like Trump, eventually defended the comment.
The most recent instance came last month when attorney Elizabeth Beck alleged that Trump called her "disgusting" when she requested to pump breast milk for her newborn during a deposition.
"He got up, his face got red, he shook his finger at me and he screamed, 'You're disgusting, you're disgusting,' and he ran out of there," Beck told CNN's Alisyn Camerota, later adding, "What kind of a leader of the United States would that be? Is he going to behave that way when he's negotiating treaties with China or Russia?"
Following Thursday's debate, Trump said he can't recall disparaging comments Kelly referred to. While it's unclear how much damage his squabble with Kelly will do to the GOP brand, Trump shows no signs on holding back anytime soon.
"You had 24 million people at the debate, the highest in history," Trump said. "If was like a record in almost every other way, if I weren't at the debate - and I don't say this in a braggadocios way - you would have had, you would have had your standard 2 million people."
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