On Monday, Donald Trump announced he was suing The Des Moines Register, its parent company, pollster Ann Selzer, and her polling operation for publishing a poll at the start of November showing Kamala Harris winning the state by 3 points. Trump ultimately won Iowa by 13, but he has claimed the erroneous poll amounts to election interference (the suit claims false advertising)… even though he won by 13 points. For reference, he never broke 10 points against Clinton or Biden.
There’s a temptation to post a blistering editorial about this kind of behavior, but that would be counter-productive. I’ve found something far better. It’s less angry than it is scared, and I think scared is the appropriate emotion at this moment. I don’t say this as someone perpetually offended by Donald Trump. I think his talk and actions are some combination hot air, shrewd negotiation, and seat-of-his-pants improv. This is egregious, though. It’s something that understandably concerns his opponents on the left, but it’s something that also ought to offend his supporters on the right. Because he expects them to defend this indefensible move. Or he simply doesn’t care that he’s put them in the untenable position of defending it. Maybe they would say you take the bad with the good with Trump and this is just the bad, but it is bad.
I’ll just close by saying that Republicans used to balk at Bill Clinton calling a radio station to complain about it airing Rush Limbaugh for three hours straight. Clinton didn’t sue the radio station, though. What Trump has done takes things to another level. No one should support it.