Donald Trump is getting ripped from all sides over his decision to quadruple down on his claims that Judge Gonzalo Curiel has an inherent conflict of interest in overseeing the Trump University case because he's Mexican American. So naturally, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has decided to quintuple down.
Two Trump campaign officials tell Bloomberg that Trump on Monday held a strategy session with supporters where he instructed them to more forcefully attack the credibility of Judge Curiel, whom Trump has accused of being a "hater" who is biased against him because his parents were from Mexico and he's opposed to Trump's plan to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Even better, the sources say that Trump instructed surrogates to accuse anyone who questions his racist attacks of being racist themselves.
"The people asking the questions—those are the racists," Trump said, according to Bloomberg's sources. "I would go at 'em."
Trump's campaign has been beset by major internal dissent over his decision to attack Curiel, and it seems that some unhappy staffers are delivering a steady stream of leaks to eager reporters. Trump, for his part, seems to remain defiant even in the face of adversity from his own campaign team.
"We will overcome," Trump reportedly said during the meeting. "And I’ve always won and I’m going to continue to win. And that’s the way it is."
