It doesn’t sound like Trump is thrilled at recent developments in the numerous investigations into his conduct, both surrounding his handling of classified documents from his time as president and his attempts to stay in power despite losing the 2020 election.
The first original post Trump made on his knock-off social media site Truth Social on Tuesday, which was, as some (evidently not Trump) may recall, Valentine’s Day, showed the ex-president raging about his poll numbers. The simple fact is that polls have depicted an inconclusive portrait of the Republican primary ahead of 2024, no matter Trump’s claimed confidence. Trump often leads, but there is also a consistent stream of polls showing Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis toppling Donald. DeSantis hasn’t announced a campaign for president, but he is widely perceived as a potential contender.
Trump also claimed he was way out ahead of Biden in polls measuring voters’ sentiment in their potential rematch, which is also untrue. The actual polling is more inconclusive, and Biden often leads. “Doing great in poll numbers,” Trump claimed on Tuesday. “Leading all Republicans by a lot, also leading Biden by a very wide margin, which means that our weaponized Injustice Department, local D.A.’s, and Attorney Generals, will step up their illegal and unprecedented attacks in order to disparage me with false “bull….” and statements in the hope that I will be damaged enough to allow a RINO, or Biden, to “slip through the cracks.” But be careful, the American people get it, and don’t like what they are seeing. MAGA!!!” Morning Consult polling that emerged in recent days showed Biden beating both Trump and DeSantis at the national level, and recent polling from Monmouth University of a one-on-one race between DeSantis and Trump saw Ron up by double-digits.
None of the posts Trump made on Truth Social early Tuesday referenced his wife or family, no matter the occasion. After inaccurately characterizing the current state of polling, he turned to the federal investigation into his handling of classified documents. He has another new attempt at a defense. “Many of the so-called “documents” that the “Gestapo” took in the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, unlike the ”No Raids of Biden,” were merely inexpensive and very common folders with words such as “Presidential Reading,” “Confidential,” “Classified,” or other words stamped on the front cover,” Trump claimed. “There was nothing inside of the folders because, during meetings where information was passed out, say at the Oval Office, when finished the papers inside were taken back, but the empty folders were left behind.” It was already known that empty folders were among what the government seized from Trump, and the fact those were among the large quantities of items agents took doesn’t mean they didn’t also take actual documents.
In other words, that line of argument flops. “I would put them in a pile and keep them as momentous,” Trump said, which is odd. “Nothing wrong with that, but sounds to me that the Injustice Department views these as DOCUMENTS – They are not!” The Justice Department potentially referring to something as a document that is not strictly speaking a piece of paper with printed or handwritten writing on it really isn’t the most substantive issue here, Donald.
