In our latest Washington Post column, Paul Goldman and I take a look at the Trumpish lawsuit filed over the RPV’s affiliation pledge.
The lawsuit is likely to go nowhere. But it does show Mr. Trump, and his supporters, of trying to have things both ways (when it’s convenient). Not that anyone looks particularly good in this case:
The GOP did, however, have the option under Virginia law to run a version of the Iowa Caucus party process to pick delegates to the party’s presidential nomination convention in Cleveland. Had they opted for this internal party-run and funded approach, there would be no lawsuit.
But a state primary is publicly funded and, by law, open to all citizens. This situation rankles pro-party registration Republicans. The affiliation statement seeks to make registration de facto, even though it has been rejected de jure by the state legislature. The lawsuit aims to stop that.
Long story short: The party’s use of the affirmation is not racial, as Smith’s suit alleges, but political and aimed at what the polls show to be a group of voters who believe in Trumpism but not necessarily Republicanism.
Trump is — from a discrete distance — using the case as a form of payback, to attack the GOP and show everyone what happens if you cross him. By winking at a civil rights lawsuit, Mr. Trump shows a willingness to use the legal process for political purposes.
And we conclude with this…
As to Trump’s claim of non-involvement spectator status, like a streaker, he’s running naked across Virginia and his supporters are pretending not to see.
But the mental image will never fade.
