Donald Trump is at war with the biggest newspaper in the key early caucus state of Iowa.
On Monday evening, the Des Moines Register published an unusual op-ed titled “Trump should pull the plug on his bloviating side show”
The editorial board called the 2016 GOP presidential candidate “a feckless blowhard who can generate headlines, name recognition and polling numbers not by provoking thought, but by provoking outrage.”
“If he were merely a self-absorbed, B-list celebrity, his unchecked ego could be tolerated as a source of mild amusement. 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,” the newspaper wrote.
In characteristic fashion, Trump fired back with a lengthy statement critiquing the paper’s “sophomoric editorial.”
“As one of the most liberal newspapers in the United States, the poll results were just too much for them to bear,” he wrote. “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.”
A recent Monmouth poll shows Trump in second place in Iowa, clocking in at 13 percent. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker led the Iowa poll at 22 percent.
