washington <u+2014> there is a long tradition of presidential candidates ratcheting up their language when they are trailing in the closing weeks of an election. but in the same fashion donald j. trump has broken with other political traditions, he is taking a longstanding rite of fall to new heights <u+2014> or perhaps new lows. on thursday and friday alone, mr. trump unleashed a barrage of near-apocalyptic warnings about the potential destruction of the country, broad accusations about the illegitimacy of american democracy, and crude innuendo about his opponent that is almost without precedent in modern presidential history. he warned that hillary clinton was conspiring with financiers to destroy american sovereignty, claimed the fate of civilization depended on his victory and ridiculed the appearance of the one of the women accusing him of sexual harassment, while also deriding mrs. clinton<u+2019>s looks and saying she ought to be in prison. he also said the presidential election amounted to <u+201c>a big ugly lie.<u+201d> while delighting his partisans, mr. trump<u+2019>s rhetorical shooting spree has enraged democrats and unnerved many republicans, who believe he is acting out a political death wish. here are some of mr. trump<u+2019>s own words and how they compare to the attacks wielded by some previous presidential candidates <u+2014> language that was, at the time, considered inflammatory or controversial but which now seems quaint by comparison: <u+201c>hillary clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of u.s. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors.<u+201d> <u+2014> mr. trump at a rally on thursday in west palm beach, fla. mr. trump veers dangerously close to the territory of <u+201c>the protocols of the elders of zion,<u+201d> a fabricated anti-semitic text, in discussing the wikileaks hacks that revealed some of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s speeches to financial institutions. there is a long history in american politics of suggesting one<u+2019>s opponent will do the bidding of a special interest, or highlighting nefarious connections. when senator john mccain was trying to gain ground on senator barack obama in 2008, he aired a television ad highlighting mr. obama<u+2019>s ties to the 1960s radical william ayers and said on the campaign trail that <u+201c>mr. obama<u+2019>s political career was launched in mr. ayers<u+2019> living room.<u+201d> but despite entreaties from supporters, including his own running mate, sarah palin, mr. mccain refused to go a step further and hold mr. obama accountable for the inflammatory comments of his onetime pastor, the rev. jeremiah a. wright jr. ____ <u+201c>honestly, she should be locked up. she should be. should be locked up.<u+201d> <u+2014> mr. trump, in west palm beach lusty, partisan crowds goading candidates into harsh attacks is another standby of white house campaigns. that is what happened when the florida crowd began chanting <u+201c>lock her up, lock her up,<u+201d> a signature republican line in this campaign relating to mrs. clinton<u+2019>s handling of emails as secretary of state. though mr. trump had previously declined to use the phrase, saying instead that he would beat her at the polls, on thursday he gave supporters what they wanted. mr. mccain faced a similar moment in 2008 when confronted with a questioner at an october rally who said she could not trust mr. obama because he was an <u+201c>arab.<u+201d> mr. mccain shut down the questioner and the assertion. <u+201c>no, ma<u+2019>am, he<u+2019>s a decent family man, citizen who i just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues,<u+201d> he said. even when past candidates have played to the gallery, it was far more tame. president george bush, struggling against bill clinton in 1992, raised eyebrows when he vented about the democratic ticket of bill clinton and al gore. <u+201c>my dog millie knows more about foreign affairs than these two bozos,<u+201d> mr. bush said. soon after, he offered a statement of regret. <u+201c>i thought it was funny at the time, and everybody laughed,<u+201d> he said. ____ <u+201c>she walks in front of me, she walks in front of me, you know. and when she walked in front of me, believe me i wasn<u+2019>t impressed.<u+201d> <u+2014> mr. trump at a rally on friday in greensboro, n.c. mr. trump could not resist offering his assessment of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s looks, using their encounter in the second debate as his point of reference. he is not the only candidate to give in to temptation and ridicule one<u+2019>s rival. senator john kerry in 2004 won laughs from a democratic audience for mocking president george w. bush<u+2019>s halting speaking style and malaprops. but it was over a policy issue. <u+201c>he keeps trying to say, <u+2018>well, we<u+2019>re-not-we-don<u+2019>t-no-we-don<u+2019>t-you-know, we don<u+2019>t want somebody who wants to leave,<u+2019><u+201d> mr. kerry said, making sport of how mr. bush sought to characterize the senator<u+2019>s position on iraq as though the president were elmer fudd (as a new york times correspondent put it at the time). and mrs. clinton herself has tried out a few lines about mr. trump<u+2019>s comb-over. but commenting unfavorably, seemingly on the posterior of the first female major-party presidential nominee <u+2014> while fending off accusations of sexual harassment and misogyny <u+2014> is something entirely new. ____ <u+201c>reporters at the new york times are not journalists. they<u+2019>re corporate lobbyists for carlos slim and hillary clinton.<u+201d> <u+2014> mr. trump on friday in greensboro mr. trump escalated his assault on the times, noting that mr. slim, a mexican telecommunications billionaire and the largest individual holder of new york times company common shares, has contributed to the clinton foundation. republican critiques of the media generally <u+2014> and the times specifically <u+2014> are as much a recurring feature of struggling presidential campaigns as invocations of harry truman<u+2019>s improbable 1948 comeback against thomas e. dewey. <u+201c>we are not going to let the media steal this election,<u+201d> senator robert j. dole told supporters in the closing days of the 1996 race. <u+201c>the country belongs to the people, not the new york times.<u+201d> but mr. dole made no mention of the ownership of the times, nor did he highlight the ethnicity of any of its investors. mr. trump on friday twice noted that mr. slim is mexican. ____ <u+201c>believe me: she would not be my first choice, that i can tell you.<u+201d> <u+2014> mr. trump on friday in greensboro facing accusations from a growing number of women that he made unwanted sexual advances, mr. trump has called them <u+201c>horrible,<u+201d> publicity-seeking liars. on friday, he went further and suggested that he could not have forced himself on one of them, jessica leeds, because she was not attractive enough to merit his advances. and that is where the historical comparisons come to an abrupt end. find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter . a version of this article appears in print on october 15, 2016, on page a16 of the new york edition with the headline: trump<u+2019>s barrage of heated speech has little precedent. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
donald trump<u+2019>s barrage of heated rhetoric has little precedent
jonathan martin