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Trump blasts Diller on Twitter, calls him 'sad and pathetic'

Barry Diller
David A. Grogan | CNBC

Should Donald Trump's presidential run prove successful, Barry Diller is liable to do something desperate.

"If Donald Trump doesn't fall, I'll either move out of the country or join the resistance," Diller said Tuesday. "I just think it's a phenomenon of reality television as politics and I think that that is how it started."

Trump responded over the weekend via Twitter, calling Diller "sad and pathetic" on the social media platform.

Trump Twitter

Front-running Trump provokes strong reactions from foes and supporters alike.

The real estate and branding magnate is currently atop most of the polls for the Republican nomination, though others such as Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio have eaten into the lead.

Diller, a media magnate in his own right who currently runs IAC/InterActiveCorp and created Fox Broadcasting among other properties, sees Trump's rise as the triumph of image over substance.

"Reality television, as you all know, is based on conflict," Diller said in remarks at the Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit. "All he is is about conflict and it's all about the negative conflict. ... He's a self-promoting huckster who found a vein, a vein of meanness and nastiness."