He said he would not say it.

But Donald Trump seemingly couldn’t resist.

“I wonder if i possibly could say — you realize, remember lyin’. Lyin’. I won’t say ‘Lyin’ Ted’ — I refuse to say it,” he told a crowd during a Friday rally in Fresno, California.

“Lyin’ Ted!” Trump then exclaimed. “Holds that Bible high, puts it down, and then he lies. Lyin’ Ted. Well, I’m going to retire that from Ted — I’m not likely to call Ted that anymore.”

Trump had resurrected perhaps his most infamous moniker to discuss shifting it from Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who challenged him for any Republican nomination, to Hillary Clinton.

However the incident helped illuminate a still-signature part of Trump’s campaign rallies: his insults of fellow Republicans.

The Manhattan billionaire is almost a complete month into being the GOP’s presumptive nominee, but his rallies in the last week have shown which he doesn’t appear to be easing up on fellow Republicans who possess drawn his ire.

During a Tuesday rally in New Mexico, for example, Trump unleashed on Susana Martinez, the state’s governor. Martinez could be the first Latina governor in US history. And she actually is a Republican.

But all of that didn’t stop Trump for attacking Martinez — one of a number of GOP governors who have yet to come out to get Trump — for not attending his rally.

“We have to ensure you get your governor get started — she’s got to do a more satisfactory job, OK?” Trump said. “Your governor has to do a better job. … She’s not doing the task. Hey, maybe I’ll run for governor of brand new Mexico — I’ll understand this place going. She’s not doing the job. We surely got to get her moving. Think about it. Let’s go, governor.”

GOP strategist and commentator Evan Siegfried, who is anti-Trump, wrote on Business Insider the following day that the remark showed Republicans can’t trust the real-estate magnate.

He wrote:

Several days ago, Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, managed to get clear to Republicans that when they distanced themselves from Trump, they might not face any retribution. This was an intelligent move considering how toxic Trump is by using every key demographic needed to win an election. Unfortunately, it seems that Donald Trump either would not get the memo or, even worse, he made a decision to ignore it. The message this sends with other Republicans must certanly be chilling: Trump can’t be taken at his word.

Later when you look at the week, Trump homed in on two of his favorite targets which have said they will not support him: Jeb Bush, the previous Florida governor and failed 2016 presidential hopeful, and Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee.

Claiming that he had “a shop that’s worth more cash” than Romney during a Wednesday rally in Anaheim, California, Trump said if Romney would’ve decided to run for president in this election cycle “he would’ve been out quickly.”

“I understand losers,” Trump said of Romney.

Trump also compared Romney a number of animals.

Romney “walked like a penguin round the stage,” Trump said.

“He choked like your pet dog,” Trump continued. “You ever see in athletics? He’s a choker. And you understand the truth, I hate to say this: Once a choker, always a choker. I was nasty about this.”

Of Bush, Trump resurrected his “low-energy” label associated with the one-time 2016 presidential candidate.

“Jeb hasn’t done it yet,” Trump said regarding Bush endorsing his candidacy. “He can get a burst of energy, after which he can do it. He has to get up the energy. No, Jeb will not be nice.”

For the reason that same Anaheim rally, Trump spent a quick moment discussing the State Department inspector general’s report faulting Clinton’s email practices, saying it really is “not very good.”

Tony Fratto, who served as deputy press secretary through the George W. Bush administration, called Trump a “vile creature” when discussing his continued penchant for ripping Republicans.

“Look, I do not whitewash my views with this — i do believe there is never been a far more vile creature to ever run for president than Donald Trump,” Fratto told Business Insider in an interview last week. “I think way too many people have a tendency to treat him like an ordinary candidate and appearance during the things he says and does and attempts to find normal explanations for them, but there aren’t any normal explanations for them because he’s a monster.”

“And monsters don’t do normal, rational things,” he continued.

Fratto said he had “no earthly idea” why he would target Martinez when he has to improve his standing among both women and Hispanics, groups with which Trump holds distinctly low favorability ratings.

“since there is no normal idea — there isn’t any normal, rational basis for that,” he said. “It is irrational and destructive, and that’s why i do believe ultimately, at the conclusion of the afternoon, that is why he loses.”

Last week’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that Trump has consolidated support inside the party.

That poll found just 6% of Republicans surveyed said they mightn’t back Trump into the fall, while 86% responded that they’d offer the presumptive Republican nominee. An ABC News/Washington Post poll found near identical results.

But Fratto said consolidating the party is not going to be adequate to win, and also the constant insults will have to stop for Trump to own a shot.

“We have had the Republican Party unified for multiple elections,” he said. “and also the facts are we’ve won the popular vote in exactly one election since 1988. So when you look at the best of that time period, using the best of candidates, and a unified party, we now have a hard time winning national elections.”

He continued:

If you believe we’re going to win one with a candidate that is intent every single day to divide the party is perhaps all you must know about why he will lose. The question in my situation isn’t whether he will win or lose — I’m very confident he will lose — the real question is how much damage is he likely to do in order to the party.

Just how long will people just like me feel just like you want to be a part of a party that would nominate someone like him and possess to blow all of our time explaining the truly ridiculous items that he does.

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