It was only a matter of time before Donald Trump went too far. Throughout his raucous campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, the property billionaire and compulsive self-publicist has captured the headlines by insulting various social groups and subjecting his rivals to personal abuse. When he used his campaign launch to claim that Mexican immigrants were rapists, immigrant groups condemned him but Trump shot upwards in the polls, making him joint frontrunner with former Florida governor Jeb Bush. His fellow Republicans grumbled in private that Trump's intemperance was damaging the party's brand but they shied away from criticising him in public.
In his attack on the war record of Arizona senator and former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, however, Trump has crossed a line that his fellow candidates can no longer ignore. During a conservative candidates' forum in Iowa on Saturday, Trump contradicted a moderator who described McCain as a war hero. "He's not a war hero," he said. "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." McCain was shot down while flying combat missions over Vietnam and held captive for five years, during which time he was beaten, tortured and interrogated. Trump avoided serving in Vietnam by receiving multiple deferments from the draft while in college.
While Trump refuses to apologise for his remarks, the other Republican candidates have seized their opportunity to attempt to shut down his candidacy, which was in danger of sucking the oxygen out of the Republican race. Driving Trump out of the race may prove difficult, however, not least because he is funding his campaign from his personal fortune. Besides, Trump’s boisterous blend of bluster and bigotry appeals to a sizeable minority of Republican activists who dislike their party’s establishment as much as they loathe the Democrats. The Republican establishment, which has been happy to take Trump’s money in the past, has itself to blame for nurturing the political monster he has become.