Perry digs in against Trump

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Sunday blasted GOP rival Donald Trump for the “sound bites” and “inflammatory comments” that have been the hallmark of what he described as a reality-TV-like campaign.  

{mosads}“I’m not going to be quiet about an individual who’s running on the Republican ticket that is saying they’re a conservative but not espousing conservative views,” Perry said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

The Texas governor has battled for weeks against the New York billionaire. Last week, Perry warned that Trump will destroy the Republican field, describing him as a “cancer of conservatism.”

Trump has enraged national Republicans with his remarks on Mexican immigrants and arguing that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is only considered a war hero because he had been captured in combat.

Trump had also lodged a personal attack against Perry as he called for a stronger system to prevent illegal immigration.  

Perry’s comments on Sunday were the first since Trump’s visit to the border city of Laredo, Texas — Perry’s home turf.

Digging in against Trump on Sunday, Perry pointed to the real estate magnate’s well-known reality TV appearances.

“Reality TV will gather a lot of interest and a lot of people enjoyed the celebrity of that, but for the last 14 years, I’ve had to live in the real world and deal with real-world issues and come up with real-world solutions,” Perry said.

Perry made similar remarks during his appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper.”

Perry also sharpened his stance against the Texas police officer who arrested Sandra Bland, the woman who killed herself in a jail cell. A video of the arrest shows aggressive behavior and shouting by a Texas officer.

“Obviously, I don’t think they followed protocol,” Perry said of the police who handled Bland’s case, adding, “This is going to be investigated as it should.”

In a radio interview last week before the video, Perry had broadly defended the police force.

“If there are individuals who step outside of the lines of either the law or common decency, they need to be held accountable,” Perry said. “But by and large, our men and women who wear those uniforms, who rush into danger when the rest of us are running away, we need to always keep them in mind, in our prayers.”