President Donald Trump apparently had a hard time sleeping Monday night. And judging by his early-morning social media outbursts, he wasn’t exactly in a relaxed mood heading into Election Day.
In two late-night attacks posted just minutes apart, Trump targeted Democratic Senate candidates in Michigan and Alaska, launching personal insults, making wild accusations and suggesting that Democratic lawyers may have kidnapped a rival candidate.
Yes, really.
At 12:52 a.m. Tuesday, Trump went after Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, accusing him of hating virtually everyone.
“Abdul El-Sayed Hates Jews and Hates Blacks. Don’t feel bad, he also Hates Whites,” Trump wrote, before attacking the people planning to vote for him.
“Only fools would vote for him in the Michigan race for the U.S. Senate! He will, 100%, do you in!” the president added.
About 20 minutes later, Trump turned his attention to Alaska, where Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan is facing Democratic challenger Mary Peltola — and where another candidate happens to share the incumbent’s name.
Trump unleashed an all-caps rant about Daniel J. Sullivan, the lesser-known candidate whose presence on the ballot has become a major source of controversy.
“FAKE ALASKA CANDIDATE DANIAL J. SULLIVAN, JR., IS MISSING IN ACTION! HE HAS TOTALLY DISAPPEARED, GONE!” Trump wrote.
Then came the accusation that took the meltdown to another level.
“NOBODY HAS BEEN ABLE TO FIND HIM. MAYBE HE HAS BEEN ‘KIDNAPPED’ BY THE CORRUPT DUMOCRAT LAWYERS???” Trump continued, before claiming Democrats were terrified of being prosecuted for election fraud.
The president signed off with “PRESIDENT DJT,” apparently determined to give the midnight outburst an official-looking finish.
The claims, however, are considerably less dramatic than Trump’s version of events.
CBS News reported over the weekend that Daniel J. Sullivan was not in his hometown of Petersburg, Alaska, and that people there did not know where he was. But the network also found that Sullivan and his wife are known “world travelers.”
In other words, the reporting did not establish that anyone had kidnapped him.
Trump has repeatedly accused the second Sullivan of being part of an election-fraud scheme designed to confuse voters and siphon support from the Republican incumbent. He even directed the Justice Department to sue in an effort to block certification of the vote.
A judge dismissed that case on Sunday.
The administration’s pressure campaign has also reached donors. Several people who contributed to Sullivan’s campaign told KFSK that FBI agents visited them to ask whether they knew which Dan Sullivan they were supporting.
They did. And some were not amused.
Donors described the visits as “voter harassment,” “interference” and “voter intimidation.”
Meanwhile, Trump has also demanded that Peltola be removed from the ballot after The New York Times reported that Democratic operatives actively recruited potential spoiler candidates, including people with the name Dan Sullivan.
Peltola has denied any involvement in the effort.
The alleged tactic may be politically controversial, but recruiting a candidate with the same name as an opponent is not illegal.
So, with voting about to begin, Trump is attacking candidates, accusing Democrats of election fraud, demanding that a leading opponent be removed from the ballot and floating a kidnapping theory about a candidate whose whereabouts were apparently unknown to people in his hometown.
That’s quite a midnight performance from a president who is supposed to be making his final pitch to voters.
And it raises an obvious question: If Republicans are so confident heading into Election Day, why does Trump sound so rattled?
