Donald Trump retweets Megyn Kelly 'bimbo' jab as women react to insults

Dissatisfied with his treatment by Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly in Thursday night’s first Republican presidential debate, Donald Trump added “bimbo” to an expanding list of unflattering terms he is comfortable publicly ascribing to women.

In a Twitter rant that began at around 3.20am, the real-estate mogul and poll leader fired off criticism at Kelly.

“The biggest loser in the debate was @megynkelly,” he said. “You can’t out trump Donald Trump. You will lose!”

He then retweeted: “Fox viewers give low marks to bimbo @megynkelly will consider other programs!”

In the debate, Kelly pressed the real-estate tycoon on his surly temperament and misogynistic remarks. In response, Trump sneered.

“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals,” Kelly began.

“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Trump interrupted, earning loud cheers from the crowd.

“Thank you,” he said.

“For the record,” Kelly said, “It was well beyond Rosie O’Donnell.”

O’Donnell quickly fired back. The comedian said on Twitter: “Try explaining that 2 ur kids.”

The exchange between Kelly and Trump was among the most memorable moments of the debate, though it failed to extract a relevant response about the candidate’s views of women.

“I don’t have time for political correctness and neither does the country,” Trump said. He later added: “Frankly, what I say and oftentimes it’s fun, it’s kidding, we have a good time.”

The Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, who was fundraising and snapping selfies with Kim Kardashian in California while the debate played out, put out a snappy attack video released on Friday that called Trump’s comments “sexists insults”.

She also broadly – and repeatedly – attacked the conservative view on women’s reproductive rights across the 17-strong Republican field. “If GOP attacks on [Planned Parenthood for America] feel like an assault on women’s health, it’s because they are,” she said in one tweet.

Trump was also questioned by the moderators over donations he made to the Clinton Foundation. He retorted that he had donated $100,000 in exchange for the Clinton’s commitment to attend his wedding.

On Friday afternoon, Trump took Fox’s record ratings from the debate as an excuse to lambast the network, tweeting that Fox “should be ashamed”.

In an interview with CNN on Friday morning, GOP presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina called Trump’s name-calling “inappropriate”.

“I have said for some time that no one who claims to represent our party should ever be judgmental in tone, vitriolic or angry,” Fiorina said. “I just think it’s inappropriate to call people names.”

Fiorina, a former Hewlett Packard CEO who is the only woman in the Republican field, did not share a stage with Trump. Earlier in the evening, she debated six other candidates who did not rank high enough in the polls to qualify for the primetime event. She was widely considered the standout winner.

Another candidate, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, said on Friday he would not use the language Trump uses, but sidestepped the opportunity to denounce the mogul’s comments.

“Certainly Donald Trump can speak for himself,” Walker said in an interview with CBS.

To debate viewers in the media, Trump’s behavior mostly came as no surprise.

“New theory,” tweeted Guardian contributor Jessica Valenti. “Trump is a plant to make the other men seem less sexist by comparison. ‘At least he doesn’t call women fat pigs!’”

Amanda Carpenter, a conservative commentator and former communications director for Ted Cruz’s Senate office, wrote: “Jesus. Calling women fat pigs isn’t a PC thing. It’s a basic matter of respect.”

“It was funny watching Trump with M Kelly,” said the feminist writer Roxane Gay, in a tweet written before Trump used the word “bimbo”. “She’s gorgeous so he didn’t know how to insult her. What an idiot.”

Others took a more ironic stance.

“We should be able to call women pigs and whores more,” the Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead tweeted. “We have to take America back!”

Winstead also responded to Trump’s post-debate remarks about Kelly.

“Well Bimbo seems like world leader talk,” she tweeted. “America, Fuck yeah!”