"Nobody Saw the Trump Phenomenon Coming" AP

Trump embraces role as bully, bids Perry a thorny farewell

The Associated Press - By By STEVE PEOPLES - Associated Press

7 hours ago

• 
  Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks to supporters during the opening of his Miami campaign office Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in Miami. (AP Photo/Gaston De Cardenas)

  1 of 3
• 
  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for a photo with Iowa State fans before an NCAA college football game between Iowa State and Iowa, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in Ames, Iowa. (Rodney White/The Des Moines Register via AP) MAGS OUT, TV OUT, NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT

  2 of 3
• 
  Republican presidential candidate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks at the Eagle Council XLIV, sponsored by the Eagle Forum in St. Louis Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. During the speech Perry said he is ending his second bid for the Republican presidential nomination, becoming the first major candidate of the 2016 campaign to give up on the White House. (AP Photo/Sid Hastings)

  3 of 3
• 
  Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks to supporters during the opening of his Miami campaign office Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in Miami. (AP Photo/Gaston De Cardenas)

  1 of 3
• 
  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for a photo with Iowa State fans before an NCAA college football game between Iowa State and Iowa, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in Ames, Iowa. (Rodney White/The Des Moines Register via AP) MAGS OUT, TV OUT, NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT

  2 of 3
• 
  Republican presidential candidate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks at the Eagle Council XLIV, sponsored by the Eagle Forum in St. Louis Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. During the speech Perry said he is ending his second bid for the Republican presidential nomination, becoming the first major candidate of the 2016 campaign to give up on the White House. (AP Photo/Sid Hastings)

  3 of 3
• 
  Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks to supporters during the opening of his Miami campaign office Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in Miami. (AP Photo/Gaston De Cardenas)

  1 of 3
• 
  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for a photo with Iowa State fans before an NCAA college football game between Iowa State and Iowa, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in Ames, Iowa. (Rodney White/The Des Moines Register via AP) MAGS OUT, TV OUT, NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT

  2 of 3
• 
  Republican presidential candidate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks at the Eagle Council XLIV, sponsored by the Eagle Forum in St. Louis Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. During the speech Perry said he is ending his second bid for the Republican presidential nomination, becoming the first major candidate of the 2016 campaign to give up on the White House. (AP Photo/Sid Hastings)

  3 of 3

 

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A growing divide has emerged in the Republican Party's unruly presidential contest, as the race bid farewell to a once-powerful White House contender. On one side stands billionaire businessman Donald Trump and his allies, on the other are those who oppose him.

A day after Rick Perry, Texas' longest-serving governor, ended his second Republican presidential run with a whimper, Trump marked the shake-up by embracing his role as his party's 2016 bully on Saturday.

"Mr. Perry, he's gone. Good luck. He was very nasty to me," Trump told Iowa voters. Turning to rival Ben Carson, he questioned whether the retired neurosurgeon had "the energy" to negotiate successfully with world leaders. In an interview earlier, Trump touted his tough-talking style as a plus.

"It's an attitude that our country needs. We get pushed around by everybody," he told Fox News, adding, "We have to push back."

Perry had all but declared war on the billionaire businessman in July, calling Trump "a cancer on conservatism" who could destroy the Republican Party. On Saturday, Trump's campaign was soaring while Perry's White House ambitions were dead. And with the real estate mogul suffocating the rest of the packed field, it's likely a matter of time before he helps push another GOP candidate out of the race.

Perry was a leading voice in the anti-Trump movement, a group that has suffered in the polls as Trump's public allies largely avoid backlash from the anti-insider wave that made Trump the unlikeliest of Republican presidential front-runners.

"There is no play in the playbook for where we are right now," said John Jordan, a California winery owner and major Republican fundraiser. "Donors don't know what to think. Nobody saw the Trump phenomenon coming."

2015 The Associated Press

Previous Page

Next Page

Page 1 of 3