Beto O'Rourke quit 2020 presidential race 'like a dog', Donald Trump says
The president savages the former Texas congressman on the day he drops out of the race to be the Democratic presidential nominee.
Saturday 2 November 2019 15:45, UK
Donald Trump has mocked Beto O'Rourke after he dropped out of the race to be the Democratic presidential nominee - saying he "quit like a dog".
The US president unleashed a slew of insults during a rally, calling Mr O'Rourke ''nasty", a "poor b*" and a "poor pathetic guy".
He said: "Oh did you hear? Beto, Beto. Oh that poor b*. Poor pathetic guy... who was pathetic. Remember the arms flailing?"
"He made a total fool of himself.
"He said that he was born for it, like he was born from heaven, he came down.
"Anybody who says they were born for this, they're in trouble."
Considered a media darling, Mr O'Rourke was seen as the breakout star of the midterm elections when he almost defeated Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz in the traditionally GOP seat - falling just 3% short.
But, after failing to move above 3% support in the polls following months of campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, he dropped out on Friday night.
Mr O' Rourke thanked his supporters and wrote in a blog: "It is clear to me now that this campaign does not have the means to move forward successfully."
The former Texas congressman went on accuse the president of "white supremacy" and said Mr Trump "encouraged" violence "against communities that don't look like, pray like or love like the majority in this country".
In a long attack on the Democrats, Mr Trump said: "Beto wasn't smart. He couldn't handle it. I told my wife tonight... when Beto quit like a dog, I said 'see, people think this is easy. It isn't easy'. I guess it worked out that way."
As part of his attack on Mr O'Rourke, he mocked his arm movements, saying: "He ran against Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz won. I used to watch him (O'Rourke). When he came on to the stage, I noticed he was flailing his arms. He was standing on tables... standing on countertops. I said 'does he never stand on the floor?'
"But he's waving his arms and going crazy and I said: 'What the hell is he doing, what is he on?'"
Mr Trump used the rally in Mississippi to defend himself in the wake of a Democrat attempt to impeach him, over a call to Ukraine some have said was an attempt to get a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.
On Thursday, Democrats voted to formalise the investigation into whether the president abused his office and compromised national security.
He said: "We've never had greater support than we have right now. While we're creating jobs and killing terrorists, the Democrat Party has gone completely insane."
Meanwhile, the leading Democrat contenders attended the party's annual marquee fundraiser in Iowa, with Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders among those expected to speak.
On the eve of the event in Iowa, Mr O'Rourke had told supporters that he made the decision to exit the race "reluctantly" and vowed to stay active in the fight to defeat Mr Trump.
Mr Trump said Mr O'Rourke "came out of Texas a very hot political property, and he went back as cold as you can be".
He added: "Hopefully, we won't be hearing about him for a long time."