'Lowest form of life': Trump hits out at Republicans turning against him after public clashes with Lincoln Project

‘A RINO might be the lowest form of human life. … They have nothing but disdain for you and your values,’ president tells loyalists in Bullhead City

Donald Trump revved up supporters in Arizona when he dubbed Republicans officials who oppose him the “lowest form of human life.”

“A RINO might be the lowest form of human life. … They have nothing but disdain for you and your values,” he told rally-goers in Bullhead City. “They lecture you on everything.”

His comments come after months of public clashes with the Lincoln Project, which has published a number of slick videos harshly criticising the president. The group was founded by a group of well-financed former Republican officials who have long opposed Mr Trump.

The president was using slang for “Republican in name only," a phrase conservatives use to describe moderate members of their party or ones who oppose this president.

He was there for the first of two rallies in a state he won four years ago and where he trails former Vice President Joe Biden by 2.4 percentage points, according to one average of several polls.

“We can’t do this to ourselves,” the president said after showing a video at the rally of Mr Biden forgetting Utah GOP Senator Mitt Romney’s name and for which office he is running next Tuesday. (Mr Biden incorrectly told his own rally crowd he is a “proud Democrat” running for the Senate, where he served for several decades before becoming VP.)

The president again downplayed a need to wear masks, even as some rally-goers positioned on a riser behind him were wearing ones with “MAGA” in big white letters that were handed out by his campaign.

“In California, you have a special mask. You cannot under any circumstances take it off. You have to eat through the mask. Right?” he said mockingly. "t's a very complex mechanism. And they don't realize, those germs, they go through it like nothing."

The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom earlier this year posted a tweet urging that state’s residents to put their masks back on in between bites when eating in public.