The US presidential primaries get under way only in February, but a veritable war of words has already intensified between Republican front-runner Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
After Clinton’s recent taunt that Trump with his anti-Muslim rhetoric was indeed becoming the best recruiter for ISIS, the billionaire businessman went hammer and tongs at the former Secretary of State, calling her a “liar” and demanding an apology for speaking of videos in this context that did not exist.
As a senior Clinton campaign aide ruled out any apology and reiterated that Trump’s tirade was set to aid ISIS bid to expand the recruitment for its jehadi campaign, Trump went on a renewed offensive at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday night.
Mocking Clinton repeatedly, Trump at one point used a vulgar term to describe her defeat to Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries.
At the rally that was repeatedly interrupted by a handful of protesters, Trump was unprepared to spare Clinton even for taking a bathroom break during last Saturday’s Democratic debate, calling it “disgusting”.
After the debate during which Clinton asserted that ISIS was using videos of Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric to boost its radicalization drive, Trump rejected the existence of any videos, demanding that she apologise. Calling her a liar, she told NBC: “She lies about emails…she lies about everything. She will be a disaster about everything as President of the United States.”
Rejecting an apology, Clinton’s spokesperson Brian Fallon said: “Hell no. Hillary Clinton will not be apologizing to Donald Trump for correctly pointing out how his hateful rhetoric only helps ISIS recruit more terrorists.”