Embroiled in a controversy over his "offensive" remarks against a woman moderator, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sunday stuck to his guns as he took on the party establishment concerned over its fallout.
The real estate mogul said he did "nothing wrong whatsoever" by criticising Fox News' Megyn Kelly, and only a sick person would say that his remark on "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her - wherever" during Thursday night's debate meant she was having her period.
"Who would say that?" Trump said. "Do you think I'd make a statement like that? Who would make a statement like that? Only a sick person would even think about that."
"I cherish women," he said, but offered no apology for his remark about Kelly a day after the debate and blamed his Republican presidential opponents for fanning the flames of controversy, and claimed that he meant to refer to her "nose and/or ears" -- not a woman's period.
"Only a deviant would say that what I said was what they were referring to. Because nobody would make that statement. You almost have to be sick to put that together," he said, repeating his earlier defence of the remark.
Trump, who is currently leading the crowded field of 17 Republican presidential national polls including long shot Indian-American Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, roiled the party establishment with his explosive remarks during the debate and refusing to rule out an independent run in case he was not the nominee.
He attacked several Republicans who criticised his remarks about Kelly and hit out at establishment favourite Jeb Bush, saying the former Florida governor "came out horribly" in a gaffe over women's health funding last week.
His comment about overfunding -- which Bush said was meant to refer to Planned Parenthood -- "will go down to haunt him and be the same as Romney's '47 percent'," he said.
Trump was referring to President Barack Obama's 2012 Republican rival Mitt Romney's comment at a private fundraiser that "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what".
He even said he has gotten the better of his attacks on Kelly.
"I think her question was extremely unfair to me -- her whole question was unfair to me. On social media, I'm the one that's beloved," Trump said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
