October 11, 2016

Donald Trump Takes to Twitter to Stoke a GOP Civil War

“The shackles have been taken off me.”

Evan Vucci/AP, File

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You probably couldn’t tell from the way Donald Trump bulldozes through political norms like a child stomping on a sand castle, but apparently the Republican nominee has not been free to be himself. Until now.

On Tuesday, Trump proclaimed himself free of “shackles” that had been holding him back and proceeded to lash out at House Speaker Paul Ryan and the Republican establishmentarians who have been distancing themselves from his campaign.

On Monday, Ryan had held a conference call with his caucus and told him he would no longer defend Trump after a 2005 video of the GOP nominee bragging about groping women was released last week. (Ryan, however, has not rescinded his endorsement of Trump.) Meanwhile, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Monday declared that the party is still wholly behind Trump.

But Trump’s tweetstorm Tuesday is throwing cold water on the unity message the RNC is trying to convey by turning on Ryan and stoking intraparty unrest.

Fifteen minutes later, Trump tweeted again, attacking his party.

Thirty minutes later, he still wasn’t done.

If Trump loses in November, he seems bent on bringing the Republican Party crashing down with him.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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