President Barack Obama has lashed out at Donald Trump with his harshest critique yet. He said on Tuesday, “I think the Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. I said so last week, and he keeps on proving it."
President Obama called out Trump for his attack on a Gold Star family adding that Trump does not have basic knowledge of critical world issues and is "woefully unprepared to be President."
And the President posed this question to GOP leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “If you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him?”
“If this were any other election cycle, and any other time, to have a sitting president say something like that against a parties major nominee for president it would be a stop the presses moment,” said New Hampshire political consultant Scott Spradling.
With some Republican members of Congress including Hanna of New York and Dent of Pennsylvania now saying they can no longer support Trump, Spradling says many are watching to see what New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte will do.
Ayotte, in a tight reelection bid against Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan - once again was distancing herself from Trump's latest tangle with a Muslim father whose son died in the Iraq war.
"However, I do not believe that she can, in this race, politically, afford to completely turn her back on those Trump Republicans or she probably loses the race,” said Spradling.
Local
Asked if Ayotte's support of Trump has evolved in recent weeks her campaign responded:
"Kelly's focus is on doing what's right for New Hampshire and that's what she'll continue to do regardless of who is in the White House, unlike Governor Hassan who is in lockstep with Hillary Clinton and Washington Democrats."
Ayotte released her own statement later:
"I call it like I see it, and I'm always going to stand up for our military families and what's best for the people of New Hampshire," her statement read.
And this story continues to evolve, Trump reportedly singled out Ayotte on Tuesday as a weak and disloyal leader in New Hampshire. He's also refusing to back House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. John McCain in their primary battles saying, “He is not quite there yet.”
The Trump campaign also released a statement saying that Obama-Clinton have single handedly destabilized the Middle East, betrayed our security and that Hillary Clinton has proven herself unfit to serve in any government office.
