Angry Donald Trump lashes out at ‘disloyal’ Republicans

Embattled presidential hopeful Donald Trump lashed out against “disloyal” Republicans in a ranting tweetstorm Tuesday, deepening a split that threatens the future of the 162-year-old party.

Declaring himself unchained from party strictures, the White House nominee berated Republican leaders for offering “zero support” and promised a bareknuckle 28-day campaign against Hillary Clinton. Mr Trump called Paul Ryan, the nation’s top elected Republican, a “weak and ineffective leader.” He ridiculed the party’s 2008 White House nominee John McCain as “very foul mouthed.”

“It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to,” Mr Trump said in a three-hour cyber outburst. “I will teach them!”

He doubled down in an interview with Fox News Tuesday night, saying of Ryan: “I don’t want his support. I don’t care about his support.”

“I wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole with these people, including Ryan, especially Ryan,” he added later in the interview, referring to Republicans who have turned their backs on him.

Relations between Mr Trump and party leaders have always been strained — from the outset many considered the politico unfit to take up the mantle of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.