Sure, he's pretty much based his entire political career on making idiotic, offensive comments in public forums, but when it comes to his ability to shock and offend members of his own party, the Donald may have just trumped himself.
Speaking at the annual Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa today, Trump lashed out at longtime rival John McCain in a fashion that seemed to appall the mostly Republican crowd on hand.
"He's not a war hero," Trump said of the 78-year-old Arizona senator. "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."
McCain, of course, spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, where he was routinely tortured. Trump's shocking attack on McCain's military record was met with scattered boos from the audience.
Moments ago, Trump issued a statement denying that he ever said McCain is not a war hero, despite the fact that his comments were captured on video.
Normally, such a grievous error in judgment would be considered a death knell for any presidential campaign, but Trump's foot has been lodged firmly in his mouth for weeks, and his has popularity has only surged as a result.
Many analysts predicted Trump's comments about Mexican immigrants would doom his campaign, and yet the controversial real estate mogul bafflingly holds the top spot amongst Republican candidates in the latest CNN poll.
Of course, the same base that loved it when Trump slammed Hillary Clinton as "desperate and sad" may feel quite differently about his comments regarding a beloved party leader.
