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With a host of Republicans abandoning Donald Trump after the furore over his lewd remarks about women, the defiant presidential candidate has asserted that he is “tired of non-support” and does not need the backing of party leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan.
“The fact is, I think we should get support and we don’t get the support from guys like Paul Ryan,” the 70-year-old real estate tycoon told Fox News.
Trump’s remarks came a day after Ryan told his party leaders that he would not be interested in supporting Trump and instead would focus on retaining majority in the Congress.
“I’m just tired of non-support and I don’t really want his support. This happens all the time -- if you sneeze, he calls up and announces, ‘Isn’t that a terrible thing’. So look, I don’t want his support, I don’t care about his support,” Trump said.
Trump also indicated that Ryan would no longer be the Speaker of the House of Representatives if he is elected as the US president.
“They’ll be there. I would think that Ryan may be would not be there, maybe he will be in a different position,” he said and exuded confidence that he would win the November 8 general election against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
“I’ve had a lot of women come up to me and say, ‘Boy, I’ve heard that and I’ve heard a lot worse than that over my life. If that’s what it is going to take to lose an election, that will be pretty sad,” Trump said.
Earlier, the reality TV star had lashed out against “disloyal” Republicans in a ranting tweetstorm.
Trump called Ryan a “weak and ineffective leader”. “Disloyal Republicans are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They don’t know how to win -- I will teach them!” he said in a tweet.
“With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nomination, the Democrats have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!” Trump said.
“It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to,” the Republican presidential nominee tweeted.
Trump also lashed out at Senator John McCain, who was among the first few Republican leaders to withdraw support.
Trump also told Fox News that he should not have endorsed McCain, in the veteran senator’s August primary.
“He (McCain) was desperate to get my endorsement. I gave him the endorsement...and frankly, he ran against a very good woman, I feel very badly I gave the endorsement,” Trump said and described McCain as having “probably the dirtiest mouth in all the Senate”.
Meanwhile, Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence said that he is “disappointed” that his party leaders are abandoning Trump.
Trump’s candidacy has suffered a blow after a 2005 tape was released in which he was seen making lewd and derogatory comments about women.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has found Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s 2005 tape that shows him making lewd remarks about women as repugnant, the White House has said.
“The President found the tape as repugnant as most Americans did. And I think there’s been a pretty clear statement by people all along the ideological spectrum that those statements constituted sexual assault,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Tuesday.
“I know you heard from the vice president about that over the weekend and that is an observation that we have heard from a wide variety of sources. That is why many people, I believe, have concluded that those statements are worthy of sharp condemnation,” he said.