Donald Trump may have started out in reality TV but now he’s crossed over into an alternate reality of his own devise, where he believes — apparently — that you can make unpleasant facts and figures vanish by sending a cease and desist letter to the purveyor of same. CNN received such a letter on Wednesday demanding that they retract, and apologize for, their recent poll, showing Trump trailing Joe Biden by 14 points. CNN’s reaction was what you would expect. CNN:
“We stand by our poll,” said Matt Dornic, a CNN spokesman.
The CNN poll conducted by SSRS and released on Monday shows Trump trailing the former vice president by 14 points, 55%-41%, among registered voters. It also finds the President’s approval rating at 38% — his worst mark since January 2019, and roughly on par with approval ratings for one-term Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush at this point in their reelection years — and his disapproval rating at 57%.
Donald Trump does not like the handwriting on this wall, oh no siree.
“It’s a stunt and a phony poll to cause voter suppression, stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the President, and present a false view generally of the actual support across America for the President,” read the letter, signed by the Trump campaign’s senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis and chief operating officer Michael Glassner.–The campaign formally requested that CNN retract the poll and publish a “full, fair, and conspicuous retraction, apology, and clarification to correct its misleading conclusions.”
McLaughlin ranks as one of the least accurate pollsters in the industry, as measured by FiveThirtyEight.
Trump has regularly chafed at polls that do not reflect favorably on him while promoting ones that do. Last month, Trump bashed Fox News, a network he often touts and gives interviews to, for a telephone-conducted poll that showed him behind Biden by 8 points, and instead pointed to a CNN poll released earlier in the month where he was leading Biden in battleground states. That CNN poll, however, showed Biden had a 5-point lead over Trump among registered voters nationwide.–“Why doesn’t @FoxNews put up the CNBC POLL or the (believe it or not!) @CNN Poll? Hope Roger A is looking down and watching what has happened to this once beautiful creation!” Trump tweeted at the time, referring to the late Fox News founder Roger Ailes.–Trump has also credited CNN’s polling when it has suited him, as he did in December 2015 when he thanked several on-air reporters for their “very professional reporting of the new CNN Poll” that showed him ahead in the Iowa caucuses.
Anger translation for CNN: “Eff you, Orange Crush. Your 15 minutes are nearly up and we both know it. But please…keep whining about it. We could use the ratings. And we’ll still be here long after NYC takes a wrecking ball to Trump Tower.”
That is devoutly to be wished. Trump will be in his new home of Florida, which is good for New York, because New Yorkers hate him. They’ve hated him since the 80’s. It’s only since 2015 that the rest of us have had to put up with what New York has.
I like that David Vigilante, CNN’s Executive VP and General Counsel basically calls McLaughlin & Associates a bunch of hacks and laughs in Jenna Ellis, Senior Legal Advisor’s face.
Lesson here….don’t mess with someone whose name is “Vigilante”.
*smirk*
It’s like Breitbart trying to tell the New York Times how to do journalism. I mean, c’mon.
Here is a link to David Vigilante’s letter to the Trump Campaign…..
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/politics/cnn-letter-to-trump-over-poll/index.html
The thing about reality TV shows is that they are actually alternate realities posing as genuine realities, so Trump has been in his element. Too bad alternate reality doesn’t actually work in the authentic genuine reality. That why the “Earth 2” satire is effective.
Alternate reality has worked so well for Trump all these years because he was insulted from actual reality by Daddy’s money. You take away that insulation and put him on a level playing field with the rest of us, you’ll see real fast what he’s made of.
Well, Karl Rove, in one of his more inane moments of hubris, set forth the whole “we create our realities” notion under W. So Trump fit right in with that crowd. As I heard it put, they got it backwards. Reality is immutable. The only thing that changes is your perspective of it. Wave your hand in front of the mirror all you want. All you’re doing is swallowing the mirror’s little speech.