Published February 15. 2016 05:04AM
WASHINGTON (AP) - The 2016 Republican presidential race is becoming a rhetorical mosh pit, with a profanity-laced Donald Trump leading the way and some of his rivals answering coarsely in kind.
In recent days, Trump has publicly lip-synced the F-bomb, blurted out the S-word more than once, hurled an offensive term for coward at rival Ted Cruz and fired a steady string of put-downs at other candidates whom he labels pathetic, liars, losers, nasty and evil.In turn, Cruz has said Trump is "losing it," called out his "Trumpertantrums" and dismissed the billionaire's insults as "hysterical."Jeb Bush has called Trump a loser, liar, whiner and jerk.Political language expert Robert Lane Greene says the "contest to become the alpha male" has become more obvious this time than in previous elections.
In this photo taken Feb. 11, 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Baton Rouge, La. Eyebrows shot up when Sarah Palin used a salty acronym, WTF, to mock the policies of President Barack Obama in 2011. How quaint. Five years later, Trump has blown right past acronyms in a profanity-laced campaign for the Republican nomination that has seen multiple candidates hurl insults and disparaging remarks at one another and their critics. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)