Donald Trump Says He Could 'Shoot Somebody' And Still Not Lose Voters

Speaking in Iowa on Saturday, Trump claimed he could withstand any attempt by his political rivals to knock him off his top perch.

His typically inflammatory comments come as Trump’s Republican rival Marco Rubio won the endorsement Saturday from the Des Moines Register, Iowa’s biggest and most influential newspaper. The Register picked Hillary Clinton for the Democrats, nine days from the first nominating contest in Iowa.

The endorsements were big developments for both Rubio and Clinton. Rubio, a Florida senator, has been running third behind Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz in Iowa, while Clinton has struggled to fend off a challenge to the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders.

Trump and Cruz, Trump’s chief obstacle to a victory in Iowa, held competing rallies across the state while in New Hampshire, other candidates battled for votes in that state’s 9 February first-in-the-nation primary for the 8 November election.

Trump, the New York billionaire and former reality TV star who has been virtually impervious to attacks from his opponents, pushed the limits of his political rhetoric again in Sioux Center, Iowa, Reuters reported.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” he said.

For his rivals, Trump has become a hard target to criticize because not all of his supporters are conservatives and many are most interested in his projection of strength, not where he stands on a particular issue.

The latest Reuters-Ipsos tracking poll had Trump pulling in 40.6% support of Republican voters nationally. A CNN/ORC poll has Trump up in Iowa with 37% to 26% for Cruz, who has led in some other Iowa polls.