Trump faces revolt from conservatives

DES MOINES - An influential conservative magazine's rejection of Donald Trump's presidential candidacy triggered a firestorm Friday, widening a rift in the Republican party with rivals saying it validates what they have been saying: that Trump is no conservative.

With Iowa to kick off the Republican search for a presidential candidate with its Feb. 1 caucuses, Trump and his aides reacted with scorn to the editorial in National Review, which was signed by 22 prominent conservatives.

The 'Against Trump” editorial by National Review, a New York-based magazine founded in 1955 by famed conservative thinker William F. Buckley Jr., was scathing.

'Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones,” the National Review wrote.

The contributors included Glenn Beck, former U.S. Attorneys General Edwin Meese and Michael Mukasey, columnist Cal Thomas, novelist Mark Helprin, Cato Institute executive Vice President David Boaz and Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Trump's opponents pounced quickly.

'I don't think Donald is running as a movement conservative,” Republican candidate Marco Rubio told Fox News. 'I don't think he's ever said that. It's clear he's not. I mean, what he's running (as is) someone who's a populist, who's upset about the direction of this country.”

Republican candidate Jeb Bush told Fox that National Review was 'just telling the truth.”

'This transformation (to conservative) that he claims he's done needs to be tested,” Bush said.

The Republican National Committee, concerned that the magazine was taking sides, dumped the National Review from co-sponsoring a Feb. 25 candidate debate in Houston.

RNC spokesman Sean Spicer told CNN he was disappointed that the magazine had elected to 'go after one of our own” and was contributing to a 'circular firing squad” rather than focusing on Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The National Review editorial emerged as some establishment Republican figures debate whether Trump is a preferable standard-bearer for the Nov. 8 election instead of the current other leader in the Republican race, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Trump, eager to put his stamp on the race with a victory in Iowa, tweeted that the National Review is a dying magazine and a ghost of its past. His campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said the publication's conclusion is irrelevant.

'The bottom line is nobody cares,” he told CNN. 'The average voter in Iowa doesn't care. The average voter in New Hampshire doesn't care.”

Trump is currently in position to seize control of the race. Polls show he could win not only Iowa's caucuses, but also New Hampshire's on Feb. 9, which would put him on a strong path to the presidential nomination.

A CNN/ORC poll on Thursday said Trump had taken a solid lead over Cruz in Iowa, 37 to 26. But Cruz has led in other polls.

Both men will campaign Saturday in Iowa, the same day that the influential Des Moines Register will announce its endorsements.

'Against Trump” began trending on Twitter by Friday morning. Most of the response on the social media site was negative toward National Review, with several users expressing dismay over the publication's decision to criticize the front-runner.

The McClatchy Washington Bureau contributed to this report.