Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) is apologizing for saying that “ugly women” would ultimately reject Donald Trump’s presidential bid.
Rendell said late Wednesday that his comments were “incredibly dumb and selfish,” according to The Associated Press.
{mosads}He also said that he was mocking his own personal appearance, adding that “there’s more of us than there are of them.”
Rendell said in a Washington Post article published earlier Wednesday that Trump’s controversial remarks regarding women would limit the presumptive GOP nominee’s appeal with female voters next November.
“For every one he’ll lose one and a half, two Republican women,” said Rendell, who has previously endorsed Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.
“Trump’s comments like, ‘You can’t be a 10 if you’re flat-chested,’ that’ll come back to haunt him,” he added. “There are probably more ugly women in America than attractive women. People take that stuff personally.”
Rendell was speaking with the newspaper about Trump’s appeal with working-class Democrats in the Philadelphia suburbs.
He acknowledged that Trump may make in-roads with female Republicans, but would lose the majority of women over his past offensive comments.
Reporter David Weigel, who authored the Wednesday story, tweeted that Rendell was merely joking.
Clinton said earlier this month that she would rally female voters against Trump’s campaign and defeat him in the general presidential election.
“The whole idea of ‘playing the gender card,’ which he charged I was doing, and by extension other women were doing, has just lit a fire under so many women in this country,” she said.
Trump has repeatedly used the former first lady’s gender against her, arguing that she plays “the woman’s card” while pandering to female voters.