WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Donald Trump fired back Saturday after his invitation to an annual gathering of influential conservatives in Atlanta was rescinded, saying that the group's founder was a "total loser" and chiding his critics for their political correctness.
Trump's comments Saturday targeted the well-known conservative blogger Erick Erickson, the organizer of the yearly Red State Gathering.
Trump said it was an "honor" to be disinvited from the conservative gathering in Atlanta and that Erickson "has a history of supporting establishment losers in failed campaigns." He also rounded up a list of past indelicate statements by Erickson, including calling First Lady Michelle Obama a "Marxist Harpy."
Trump statement on Megyn Kelly, RedState, & “total loser” @EWErickson pic.twitter.com/G0A7UOZN0W— Molly Ball (@mollyesque) August 8, 2015
Erickson rebutted Trump on Twitter Saturday:
The difference between Donald Trump and me is that I apologized and he is just denying he said it.— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 8, 2015
Trump's pulled invite from RedState Gathering is the latest twist in a bizarre 48 hours in which the presidential campaign cycle has been dominated by Trump's attacks on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, one of three moderators of the first GOP primary debate.
Most recently, Trump slammed Kelly in a interview with CNN with what many construed as a thinly veiled reference to menstruation: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her…wherever," Trump said.
That was apparently the last straw for RedState's Erickson.
"As much as I do personally like Donald Trump, his comment about Megyn Kelly on CNN is a bridge too far for me,” Erickson wrote on Red State late Friday night.
Trump's Saturday statement made little attempt to clarify what exactly he was getting at. Trump, the statement said, meant Kelly's nose and "only a deviant would think anything else."
Re Megyn Kelly quote: "you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever" (NOSE). Just got on w/thought— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2015