--- title: Donald Trump Tapes: He Fires Back at Republican Critics description: In the most beleaguered moment of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump is done trying to make friends in his own party. canonical: https://time.com/4524209/donald-trump-tapes-republican-critics/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-09T18:26:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:30.818Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Fires Back at Republican Critics og:description: As he heads to the second debate. og:url: https://time.com/4524209/donald-trump-tapes-republican-critics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb711840af533a731/6988a941fb4eac840988f681/donald-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Fires Back at Republican Critics twitter:description: As he heads to the second debate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb711840af533a731/6988a941fb4eac840988f681/donald-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Fires Back at Republican Critics > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke J Miller / St. Louis](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / St. Louis Oct 9, 2016 6:26 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall in Sandown, N.H., on Oct. 6, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall in Sandown, N.H., on Oct. 6, 2016.Evan Vucci—AP by [Zeke J Miller / St. Louis](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / St. Louis Oct 9, 2016 6:26 PM UTC In the [most beleaguered moment](http://time.com/4523868/what-donald-trumps-crazy-friday-means/) of his campaign, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is done trying to make friends in his own party. With his past comments about sexually assaulting women [drawing widespread condemnation](http://time.com/4524010/donald-trumps-lewd-comments-leave-the-gop-scrambling/) from Republicans, and a multitude of defections, Trump is rejecting pleas from Republican leaders to demonstrate contrition, as he turns his fire on those who are no longer comfortable being associated with him. In a series of tweets Sunday before he boarded a flight with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and other advisors to the [second presidential debate](http://time.com/money/4522711/second-presidential-debate-online-watch-stream/) in St. Louis, Trump took aim at the growing list of GOP leaders who have unendorsed his candidacy. Retweeting one supporter, Trump spread the message that the already more than a dozen GOP members of Congress and one governor have revoked their support of Trump, are “traitors.” Meanwhile, while former primary rivals Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have called on Trump to step aside. Trump’s campaign encouraged surrogates to drive the message that “They are more concerned with their political future than they are about the future of the country,” according to talking points forwarded to TIME by one surrogate. “Mr. Trump won the Primary without the help of the insiders and he’ll win the General without them, too.” The tweets and talking points came just 36 hours after Speaker of the House Paul Ryan disinvited Trump from a planned unity rally in Wisconsin. Trump was supposed to send his running-mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, in his stead, but was informed by Pence that his comments couldn’t be defended. But Trump is seeking to exploit the same divide between the party establishment and its grassroots that enabled his candidacy from the start, as he tries to rally his base by using the GOP leadership’s criticism to his advantage. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785118735543767040) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785118235452665856) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785102728334893056) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4524209/donald-trump-tapes-republican-critics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4524209/donald-trump-tapes-republican-critics/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Fires Back at Republican Critics","datePublished":"2016-10-09T18:26:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:30.818Z","description":"In the most beleaguered moment of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump is done trying to make friends in his own party.","url":"https://time.com/4524209/donald-trump-tapes-republican-critics/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","Reince Priebus","john kasich","Carly Fiorina","Debates"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb711840af533a731/6988a941fb4eac840988f681/donald-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke J Miller / St. Louis"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb711840af533a731/6988a941fb4eac840988f681/donald-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016, in Sandown, N.H. 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