Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Saturday that fellow presidential candidate Donald Trump's derogatory commentary has begun inflicting permanent and possibly fatal damage to the Republican Party brand and urged GOP leaders to stop "tiptoeing" around the billionaire businessman and to confront him directly and unequivocally.
In an interview, Graham said Trump's personal attacks on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly after she questioned him in Thursday night's primary debate were "an affront to all women" and undermine the Republican Party's urgent mission to appeal to more women voters.
"I think we've crossed that Rubicon, where his behavior becomes about us, not just him," Graham said. "I hope the party leadership will push hard. I hope that those seeking the nomination to be the standard-bearer will unequivocally reject this. People gave Mr. Trump a pass on the [debate] stage. I understand that to a point, but we've crossed a line here that can't be ignored. There can be no more tiptoeing around this."
Graham's comments came after Trump hurled insults at Kelly in a Friday night appearance on CNN. He called her a "lightweight" and suggested that she asked him aggressive and "ridiculous" questions in the debate.
"You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever," Trump said on CNN. On Saturday morning, he and his campaign issued statements claiming that Trump was referring to Kelly's nose.
Graham, a long-serving senator from South Carolina, was relegated to the undercard debate Thursday because of his poor standing in national polls. He said the party's deep bench of talented candidates is being overshadowed and undermined by Trump, who helped draw a record cable television audience for the main debate.
"Everything is being placed in jeopardy by the antics of Mr. Trump, and we're at a crossroads as a party," Graham said. "The good news is that 24 million people watched the Republican debate. The bad news is that 24 million people watched the Republican debate."
Graham urged his fellow presidential candidates, as well as party leaders like Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, to state clearly that Trump's message "is not who we are, not where we're going to take the country and not what we believe."
"It's just like driving by a car wreck without rendering aid," Graham said. "Donald Trump is an out-of-control car driving through a crowd of Republicans, and somebody needs to get him out of the car. I just don't see a pathway forward for us in 2016 to win the White House if we don't decisively deal with this."
Republican leaders have tread carefully in dealing with Trump, worried about alienating or angering him out of fear that he might run as an independent candidate in next year's general election and take votes away from the Republican nominee. In Thursday's debate, Trump memorably refused to vow to support the eventual nominee, saying he wanted to keep his "leverage."
But Graham said GOP leaders need to "take the leverage away and not be afraid to speak honestly and directly about this problem."
Graham wasn't the only candidate to criticize Trump.
Jeb Bush said Trump threatens the GOP's 2016 prospects with female voters, who already favor Democrats in presidential elections. "Do we want to win? Do we want to insult 53 percent of our voters?" the former Florida governor told the RedState Gathering in Atlanta, where Trump had been the headliner for an evening reception at the College Football Hall of Fame.
The event's organizer, radio host Erick Erickson, offered similar sentiments when he booted Trump after his statements on CNN. "I just don't want someone on stage who gets a hostile question from a lady and his first inclination is to imply it was hormonal," Erickson wrote on his website, even as he acknowledged that Trump "resonates with a lot of people with his bluntness."
Former tech executive Carly Fiorina, the only woman among the GOP candidates, took to Twitter: "Mr. Trump. There. Is. No. Excuse."
She added, "I stand with megynkelly."
Rick Perry, the former Texas governor, said Trump's behavior shows "a serious lack of character and basic decency" that should disqualify him from the race.
"Sen. Rand Paul believes Mr. Trump's comments about Megyn Kelly were inappropriate and offensive," Paul's spokesman Sergio Gor said.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who opened Saturday's session of the RedState Gathering, found himself pulled into the Trump frenzy.
"Rather than say something about the criticism, I'll tell you there's not a more professional, more savvy and more brilliant person in television today than Megyn Kelly," Huckabee insisted.
He refused to speak on Trump's behalf.
He rejected a question about whether Trump's statements fed into Democratic accusations that the GOP waged a "war" on women.
"I'm running for president," said Huckabee. "I'm not running to be the social media critic of someone else who's running for president. You guys can ask him all day. Talk to me about issues. Talk to me about my tax plan. Talk to me about Iran. There's plenty of people who can talk about Donald Trump. I'm the only one who can talk about Mike Huckabee running for president."
Information for this article was contributed by Philip Rucker and David Weigel of The Washington Post and by Bill Barrow, Sergio Bustos and Jill Colvin of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/09/2015