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A gaffe too far? Trump campaign suffers blowback

– Fellow Republicans take aim –

Trump insisted Washington has been consumed by political correctness, and that he brings a dose of straight talk to the White House race. But is that enough to win over America?

“There is a difference between avoiding political correctness and being a moron,” Brian McClung, a Republican strategist who consulted for Tim Pawlenty’s 2012 presidential campaign, told AFP.

Republican candidates and leaders, McClung stressed, “have to stand up and speak out against Trump’s brand of stupidity.”

But in the first major poll released since the fractious debate featuring Trump and nine rivals, and an event with seven second-tier hopefuls, the campaign’s most controversial candidate remained on top.

Trump earned 19 percent support, compared with 12 percent for neurologist Ben Carson and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and 11 percent for Jeb Bush, according to Public Policy Polling’s survey of Republican voters in Iowa released Monday.

Experts say The Donald – as New York media call him – is now entering a more difficult campaign period, one marked by increasing skepticism about his political intentions, deeper scrutiny of his past, and concern about Trump’s back-up plans.

“RedState Gathering,” a high-profile seminar of conservatives, disinvited Trump to its weekend conference, where Jeb Bush laid into the frontrunner. READ: Republican debate: the good, the bad and the Trump-y.

“Do we want to insult 53 percent of all voters?” Bush asked at the Atlanta event.

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“What Donald Trump said was wrong. That is not how we win elections.”

Trump signalled campaign changes are afoot, including the departure of long-time strategist Roger Stone, who reportedly urged Trump to lay out a political agenda rather than focus on sniping.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump said he “fired” Stone, while Stone said he quit because of the direction of the campaign.

“I’m going to come out with more positions,” Trump added, promising more policy heft.

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