Top conservative Erick Erickson rips Donald Trump as 'chicken' for bailing on Heritage forum


Donald Trump, under fire for failing to correct a supporter's claim that President Obama is a Muslim on Thursday night, won't be attending the Heritage Action forum of Republican presidential candidates Friday in Greenville, South Carolina, due to what his campaign has called "a significant business transaction." Not everyone is buying that story, though — in particular not Erick Erickson, the editor-in-chief of the conservative website Red State. On his personal website, Erickson railed against Trump, calling him a "chicken" for backing out and suggesting the business mogul's lukewarm performance at the Republican debate on Wednesday was a motivating factor for his last-minute cancellation.
It was obvious to even Donald Trump supporters that he was out of his depth on Wednesday night in Simi Valley, CA. He did not have a grasp of issues and could not resort to rhetorical hyperbole to answer many of the questions.Well, having shown himself shallow on Wednesday, Donald Trump was supposed to go to South Carolina tonight to answer questions at a forum put on by Heritage Action for America. The questions were guaranteed to be even more substantive because it is Heritage involved.Suddenly, oh so suddenly, a YUGE business transaction has come up on a Friday night and Donald Trump has no one in a vast MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR organization to handle it for him.So he must bail on the substantive questions in South Carolina to deal with this "business transaction."Hahahaha. Chicken. [Erickson]
Your move, Donald.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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