On the heels of RedState Gathering founder Erick Erickson revoking his invite to Donald Trump as Saturday night's headline speaker, not everyone at the conservative get-together appreciated the decision.
Trump in an interview Friday had taken aim at Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly by saying "you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever" as she questioned him during Thursday's Republican presidential debate. Erickson called the billionaire's comments "a bridge too far."
But Rebecca Landau, a Georgia resident who’d made the weekend trip to Atlanta from Ellijay, summed up her thoughts thusly (and she wasn’t alone):
"Trump stuck his foot in his mouth, as usual, but that's nothing new. And Erick Erickson made a decision to take away from those of us who are attending and came to hear Trump along with the other speakers so we can make our own minds up. Erick took that opportunity away from us and said this morning in explaining why he told us it was because he didn't want his 9-year-old daughter in the same room with Trump and therefore Trump would not be there.
"Well, to me that says he is treating me on the same level as his 9-year-old child. This is an adult event. If you don't want your child there then leave your child at home and let the adults attend and hear what we came to hear.
"Of course (what Trump said) was obviously crude. It was another 'Trump.' But the whole point is that's part of this process — for us to weed out how many of theseTrump-isms can he say before we go: 'It's not cute anymore.' Again that's our decision to make, not Erick Erickson's decision to make.
"Very much so (concerned this will push Trump to consider a third-party run). That is the big wild card and things like Trump getting his ego there where if he's treated respectfully and if in his own mind this is an insult to him – he may deserve it, he may not – the fact is he will take it as a huge insult and I'm afraid it could make him to say 'the heck with everybody I'm on my own.' And then it's President Hillary."
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