Businessman and 2016 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is dismissing an editorial from Iowa’s leading newspaper calling for him to exit the presidential race as “sophomoric.”
“I am not at all surprised by the Des Moines Register’s sophomoric editorial,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “It was issued immediately after the release of the ABC News/Washington Post poll showing me with 24 percent and an 11-point lead over my nearest rival. As one of the most liberal newspapers in the United States, the poll results were just too much for them to bear. The Des Moines Register has lost much circulation, advertising, and power over the last number of years. They will do anything for a headline, and this poorly written ’non-endorsement’ got them some desperately needed ink.”
With a headline of “Trump should pull the plug on his bloviating side show,” the editorial from the newspaper said that since his presidential announcement, Mr. Trump “has been more focused on promoting himself, and his brand, than in addressing the problems facing the nation.”
“If he were merely a self-absorbed, B-list celebrity, his unchecked ego could be tolerated as a source of mild amusement,” the editorial read. “But he now wants to become president, which means that he aspires to be the leader of the free world and the keeper of our nuclear launch codes.”
If Mr. Trump had not disqualified himself for his comments about Mexico and illegal immigrants, the editorial said, he certainly did so with the comments about Sen. John McCain’s military service he made over the weekend in Iowa.
The editorial branded him “’the distraction with traction’ — a feckless blowhard who can generate headlines, name recognition and polling numbers not by provoking thought, but by provoking outrage.”
Mr. Trump said that on the campaign trail in Iowa, “a state whose people I have truly gotten to know and love,” he’s been treated very badly by the Register, saying that they don’t correctly report the impressive crowd numbers he draws.
“It is always wonderful to have the support of a newspaper, even a failing one, but this has only given me more motivation to fight harder in Iowa and Make America Great Again!” Mr. Trump said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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