MANCHESTER, N.H. — There are some things you never think you’ll hear a presidential candidate say — even Donald Trump.
But, on Monday night, Trump became the first presidential candidate in recent memory to use an epithet for female anatomy to describe a Republican rival on stage at a rally — and he later said it was a "great moment."
Speaking to about 5,000 people at Manchester’s Verizon Center on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, Trump railed against opponents who speak out against his tone. Specifically on waterboarding, Trump contrasted his recent statements on bringing back waterboarding to those of Sen. Ted Cruz.
"You know he’s concerned about the answer because well, some people," Trump said, pointing to a woman in the crowd, "she just said a terrible thing. You know what she said? Shout it out ‘cause I don’t wanna."
Then he said it anyway: "She said, 'He’s a p---y.'"
The crowd erupted in laughter and cheers. Moments later, a “Trump” chant broke out. Trump faux-chastised the woman, for the good of the press, as he’s done before when one of his attendees has shouted out something uncouth. “That’s terrible! Terrible.”
Trump defended his crude comment Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"We were all just having fun. It was a great moment," he said. "The place went wild."
"All I was doing was repeating because people couldn't hear it, so I was doing everybody a favor," he added.
After making the remark, Trump quickly moved on to asking people to get out the vote for him.
“It’s so important tomorrow. It’s gonna be the beginning. Even if it snows it’s so important what’s going on.” Trump ended what he called his “final love fest” with New Hampshire voters by telling them: "I love you all … you are all special. Let's see you tomorrow. Let's have a big victory!”
Following news of the vulgarity, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler tweeted, "@realDonaldTrump turning the campaign into the latest episode of a reality show but let's not forget who whipped who in Iowa."
Trump also took a sharp turn in criticizing Sen. Marco Rubio for his repetitious debate performance. Trump earlier had defended Rubio on CBS This Morning saying that everyone repeats themselves sometimes, but the benefit of the doubt was gone Monday evening when Trump called Rubio out for “sweating like a dog” to his right during Saturday’s debate.
“So I have him here. I have Marco, honestly Marco was having a hard time. And he’s a nice guy, he’s a nice guy. I mean, again and again and again. After 3 times, you know I have a very good memory. And after 3 times I said, wait a minute, he said that about 3 minutes ago.”
Trump took it further: "Then I said wait, wait, wait, he said that 2 minutes ago. It’s the same exact thing. So after the 5th time I said, what the hell’s going on over here.”
