Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry continued his feud with Donald Trump Tuesday, telling Fox News that the real estate mogul doesn’t stand for conservatism and isn’t sure if Trump himself “knows what he’s for” other than himself.
Perry’s latest hit comes on the heels of him referring to the real estate mogul, as noted by Fox News’ Bill Hemmer, as a “cancer” to the GOP.
“You say ‘I believe strongly that Mr. Trump’s philosophy is not conservatism, but rather a toxic mix of demagoguery and nonsense.'” Hemmer told Perry. “You called him a cancer to conservatism.”
“You also called him a cancer to conservatism. Explain that.”
“I refer to that as Trumpism, not conservatism, and I think that is correct,” Perry said. “I don’t think his rhetoric is good for America. we need somebody to bring this country together. We’ve had six and a half, almost seven years — we’ll have had eight years of a president who divided us by gender, by race, by economics, and Americans are looking for somebody to bring us together.
“And obviously, Donald Trump is not interested in that,” Perry continued. “He’s interested in drawing attention to himself in whatever outrageous way he needs to.”
“You know, Horace Greeley said that fame is a vapor, that popularity is an accident, and that riches have wings, and the only thing that endures is character,” Perry said. “And I would suggest to you that Americans are really going to get focused on this issue of character. They want somebody who has a strong internal character. Frankly, we are not seeing that in Donald Trump.”
Perry and Trump have been mired in a protracted feud with each other, specifically over border security and recent comments by Trump about Sen. John McCain, after which Perry said Trump is unfit to be Commander in Chief. Perry is one of two veterans currently running for the GOP nomination (Lindsey Graham being the other).
“He doesn’t represent the Republican Party that I represent. I’ll be real honest with you, I don’t know if Donald Trump knows what political party he is part of,” Perry said. “When you have think about the things he’s been for, whether it’s single-pair healthcare. Whether its — he’s been for choice, he’s been against choice. I’m not sure Donald Trump knows what he’s for other than Donald Trump.”