At a rally tonight in Manchester, NH that
Jason Keisling
reportedly drew over 5,000 people, Donald Trump used the word "pussy" onstage, leading to immediate declarations that Trump has finally gone too far.
Mother Jones declared "Donald Trump Just Crossed a New Line in American Politics," Mashable called it "shocking," and even Trump himself mockingly called it "terrible."
The Republican frontrunner had been poking fun at his rival near the top of the polls, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tx.), for not being sufficently in favor of waterboarding (even though Cruz described the practice as "not torture" at Saturday's debate).
A woman in the crowd reacted to Trump's characterization of Cruz as soft-on-torture by shouting "He's a pussy!" To which Trump reacted with, "You're not allowed to say…and I never expect to hear that from you again," then to the crowd he amplified her comments by repeating them, "She said he's a pussy."
The Hill reports:
"That's terrible, terrible," Trump said as the audience erupted into a mix of laughs and cheers and he threw his hands into the air and moved away from the microphone. Trump continued by providing a mock "reprimand" of the woman in an effort to belay comparisons to a rally in September when he failed to correct a supporter who said President Obama was a Muslim and not an American. "For the press, this is a serious reprimand," Trump said after asking the audience if the woman could stay.
For the record, during this presidential electoral cycle Trump has called for the deportation of U.S. citizens born to undocumented immigrants, as well as a ban on Muslim immigration and Muslim American citizens returning to the country if abroard. He has also characterized Mexicans as "rapists," mocked Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) for getting captured and enduring years of torture during his time serving his country in the Vietnam War, and has proudly declared, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters."
Trump has said all that, but repeating a crude sexist euphemism used by a female supporter at a yuge rally on the eve of the first primary in the nation is a "new line in American politics."
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