Diamond in the Rough: Trump Campaign Touts Twitter Poll Conducted by ‘Catturd’

We’ve all searched for diamonds in the rough, but Donald Trump’s campaign for president has already resorted to combing through feline feces for good news.

On Saturday, Trump shared the results of a Twitter poll showing Trump ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by 45 points in a not-so-hypothetical Republican presidential primary matchup on Truth Social. The question was posed by anonymous right-wing online influencer “Catturd.”

“NEW POLL JUST OUT…” declared the former president, who has spent the last several months launching a frontal assault on DeSantis’s character, record, and name. DeSantis is widely considered to be the most viable of the potential challengers to Trump’s grip on the GOP nomination.

He was preempted in his heralding of the unscientific survey by Alex Bruesewitz of X Strategies, a Republican consulting firm working for the Trump campaign. “Trump extends his lead by A LOT since the last time Catturd conducted a poll,” proclaimed a triumphant Bruesewitz. “Safe to say that @realDonaldTrump is who the people want!” he concluded.

Then on Monday, the Trump-affiliated Make America Great Again PAC shared the results yet again, boasting that “Trump Crushes DeSantis In New Poll” while flattering the pseudonymous Catturd by claiming that he had “conducted” it.

I suppose it’s better to be leading than trailing in anything, but for a former president of the United States to be reduced to sharing, and putting stock in the accuracy of the results of Twitter poll is something to behold. Not only is it a sign of Team Trump’s discontentment with the results of real polls — which depict a much more competitive race — it betrays a mistaken belief that the preferences of Twitter reflect the preferences of the average Republican voter.

While Trump has always been myopic, his successful 2016 campaign focused on real issues such as the border and the rise of ISIS in the Middle East. It’s become increasingly clear in recent days, however, that his nascent 2024 campaign is increasingly focused on contrived issues, such as the treatment of those jailed for their role in the January 6 Capitol riot that Trump himself inspired and egged on. At a rally in Waco, Texas over the weekend, Trump played footage from the riot while a song recorded by rioters played in the background.

Should this strategy backfire hard enough to deny Trump the nomination, perhaps we’ll look back on his touting of the Catturd poll as a telltale sign of his campaign’s fate.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.