The jibs and jabs of the 2016 election continue at a record pace. This week — not a surprise — most involve GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
The real estate mogul been firing insults for weeks but now has turned his sights on two new targets: Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson.
Here’s a look at this week’s political insults:
1. Donald Trump insults Carly Fiorina’s looks, says she’s unelectable
On Wednesday, the Rolling Stone published a profile of the real estate mogul, and one specific comment received a lot of attention from critics.
“Look at that face!” Trump said while sitting with a reporter as Carly Fiorina appeared on TV. “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president.”
Trump added, “I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not s’posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?”
Trump was asked about that comment by CNN’s Chris Cuomo and he insisted, “I’m not talking about looks. I’m talking about persona.”
On Thursday night, Trump attempted more damage control when he told Fox’s Greta Van Susteren that remarks he’s made about Fiorina and other women were made when he was acting as an “entertainer.”
“Many of those comments are made as an entertainer, because I did ‘The Apprentice.’ It was one of the top shows on television. I decided not to do it again because I wanted to run for president. But some comments are made as an entertainer. And, as everybody said, as an entertainer [it] is a much different ballgame,” Trump said.
2. Donald Trump hits Jeb Bush about having “low energy” and Bush hits back
Trump hasn’t been shy about his distaste for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Trump has repeatedly said that Bush has “low energy,” but this week he took it a step further when he published a video on Tuesday to his Instagram account, sarcastically asking, “Having trouble sleeping at night? Too much energy? Need some low energy?” followed by “Jeb, for all your sleeping needs.”
While the narrator speaks, the Instagram video shows Bush speaking at a forum while a woman is asleep in the background.
On Wednesday, Bush was quick to respond and say the woman featured is a “big supporter” of his who had simply worked a long day and was tired.
“She woke up at 4 o’clock, she had a 12-hour shift, she had to take her child to drop her child off before she went to work,” he said.
On Thursday, the former Florida governor told CNN’s Jake Tapper that Trump can’t insult his way into the White House, referencing Trump’s comments about Fiorina.
“Look, I don’t get it. I don’t see how over the long haul that you can insult your way to the nomination or the president — certainly not the presidency — and not the nomination either,” Bush said.
He added, “This disparaging of women is deeply troubling. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
3. Hillary Clinton says Scott Walker isn’t a “real leader”
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton was in Wisconsin on Thursday, where she told an audience of students in Gov. Scott Walker’s home state that he is not a “real leader.”
“It seems to me, by just observing him, that Governor Walker thinks because he busts unions, starves universities, guts public education, demeans women, scapegoats teachers, nurses and firefighters, he is some kind of tough guy on his motorcycle — a real leader,” Clinton said, referring to Walker’s motorcycle riding. “Well, that is not leadership, folks. Leadership means fighting for the people you represent.”
Walker took to Twitter to respond and said, “While you pander to union bosses, I give workers freedom to choose if they want to be in a union or not.”
4. Actor Robert Redford hits Donald Trump — Trump ignores his criticism and sees only praise
In an Aug. 28 interview on Ora.tv with Larry King, actor Robert Redford said he was glad that Trump was running in the 2016 presidential campaign, but not all of it was praise.
“I’m glad he’s in there because him being the way he is, and saying what he says the way he says it, I think shakes things up and I think that’s very needed,” Redford told King. “Because on the other side, it’s so bland.”
Trump tweeted his appreciation, saying, “Wow! Such nice words from Robert Redford on my running for President. Thank you, Robert.”
But Redford also critiqued the candidate, saying that the real estate mogul has “such a big foot in his mouth, I am not sure you can get it out.”
“It’s like ‘Looney Tunes’ and not “Merrie Melodies.’ It’s crazy stuff,” he said, adding that Americans felt foolish watching all of the candidates running against each other.
5. Bobby Jindal wants to send Donald Trump back to reality TV and Trump refuses to respond because of Jindal’s low polling numbers
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has unleashed a verbal war against Trump this week.
“The Donald Trump act is great, and the idea of Donald Trump is great,” Jindal said during a speech at the National Press Club. “But the reality of Donald Trump is absurd.”
He also attacked Trump’s character, calling him a “narcissist” and “egomaniacal.”
“I like the idea of Donald J. Trump,” Jindal told CNN’s Carol Costello Friday morning. “What worries me is, however, that as conservatives, we have a choice. Do we turn to our principles, or do we turn to a man who believes in nothing but himself?”
Trump tweeted that he wouldn’t respond to anyone who isn’t polling at less than 1%.
He tweeted Friday morning, “Oh wow, lightweight Governor @BobbyJindal, who is registered at less than 1 percent in the polls, just mocked my hair. So original!”
On Thursday, Trump tweeted, “Bobby Jindal did not make the debate stage and therefore I have never met him … I only respond to people that register more than 1% in the polls. I never thought he had a chance and I’ve been proven right.”
6. Ben Carson and Donald Trump duel it out
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was once protected from Trump attacks because the real estate mogul believed Carson was a “good guy.”
That changed once Carson spoke about his dislike for Trump’s immigration plan and his faith.
Carson said he believes that deporting 12 million undocumented immigrants isn’t ideal.
“It sounds really cool, you know, ‘Let’s just round them all up and send them back,'” Carson said in San Francisco this week. “People who say that have no idea what that would entail in terms of our legal system, the costs – forget about it. Plus, where you gonna send them? It’s just a double whammy.”
This wasn’t the only comment Carson made toward Trump this week. Carson, who is usually regarded as the most mild mannered, also questioned Trump’s faith.
“By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life and that’s a very big part of who I am. I don’t get that impression with him,” Carson said of Trump. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t get that.”
Trump, who has said that the Bible is his favorite book, responded to Carson’s comment on Thursday and told CNN’s Chris Cuomo, “Who is he to question my faith? When I am — I mean he doesn’t even know me.”
He added, “When he questions my faith — and I’m a believer, big league, in God and the Bible — and he questions my faith and he doesn’t know me.”
He didn’t stop there. He also compared Carson to Bush, saying that he makes Bush look like the “Energizer Bunny.”
“All of a sudden, he’s becoming this man of faith and he was heavy into the world of abortion,” Trump continued about Carson.
He added that Carson, the first surgeon to separate conjoined twins, was an “OK doctor” with once “horrendous” views on abortion, referencing Carson’s medical research in the early 1990s on tissue from aborted fetuses.
Carson ducked an opportunity to hit back at Trump on Friday.
“Well, the question is, do I want to respond to Donald Trump’s charges? The answer is no. I really don’t,” Carson told reporters in Ferguson, Missouri. “Because what I have discovered is the media loves to stoke up controversy and have people fighting each other like gladiators, and I think that’s exactly the wrong thing to do. I’ve made it clear that I was not attacking him. It was interpreted that way by the media and I think he took the bait. But I’m not taking the bait. I’m not going there. Next question.”