Donald Trump spoke in a way that few would when he said over the weekend that Sen. John McCain is not a war hero, but that shouldn't disqualify him from seeking the GOP presidential nomination, a
Newsmax TV panel said Monday.
"Donald Trump is allowed to make mistakes and allowed really to allow the voters to decide whether or not he should get out of the race," conservative activist and Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley told "Newsmax Prime."
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Other candidates are a little jealous of Trump because he's sucking up all the media attention, Shirley said.
"Should he have said about John McCain? No. Does it eliminate him from contention? Does it mean he's unqualified to seek the nomination? No, it doesn't," Shirley said.
"Well, it isn't a statement that the rest of us would have made but Trump has done a good job of bringing excitement to the next upcoming election and that's extremely helpful," Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly added.
Trump is bringing out issues that other candidates are not talking about, such as crimes being committed by illegal aliens, she said.
"I'm looking forward to having a real Republican convention next year where the convention will decide who the nominee is and not the people who think they're running the party," Schafly said.
Trump has no political experience and initially was not considered a serious candidate by most observers. But he has shot to the top of several polls and is second in others despite making several controversial statements that he has refused to back away from.
Schafly said Trump has as much a chance of getting the nomination as any of the other candidates.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and others have a big chance, "and I want to see it go all the way to the convention and let the delegates decide who have been democratically elected from all over the country," she said.
Shirley said it may be near the point at which the GOP establishment is taking a risk by lambasting Trump.
"I never thought I would say it, but it may be that Donald Trump ends up as a victim in this circumstance because the establishment is so overplaying their hand in attacking him."
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