When the Wall Street Journal wrote an editorial bashing Donald Trump’s debate performance, it was perhaps only a matter of time before the GOP candidate took to social media to attack back.
Thursday morning, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial knocking Donald Trump on his trade comments during Tuesday night’s Fox Business debate.
The editorial says,
Start with trade, which showcased Donald Trump. “I love trade. I’m a free trader, 100%,” said the businessman, after declaring that he opposed the only free-trade deal currently on offer, the U.S. agreement with 11 other Pacific nations.
Mr. Trump called it a “terrible deal,” though it wasn’t obvious that he has any idea what’s in it. His one specific criticism was its failure to deal with Chinese currency manipulation. But it took Rand Paul to point out that China isn’t part of the deal and would be happy if the agreement collapsed so the U.S. would have less economic influence in Asia.
Trump then wrote a series of five tweets lashing out at the Wall Street Journal for its editorial judgment and defending his knowledge of the trade deal.
Later, Trump went back to Twitter to rail against a second editorial in the Wall Street Journal published the same day, this one by Republican political operative Karl Rove. It declared Trump the “biggest loser” of Tuesday’s debate.
Rove wrote:
Mr. Trump’s worst moment came when he attacked the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, saying that Chinese currency manipulation is “not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement.” Mr. Paul did the takedown: “We might want to point out, China is not part of this deal.” Laughter from the crowd.
None of this will prove fatal. But it adds to the growing perception that though The Donald offers bluster and entertainment, he lacks what it takes to be president.
Trump responded:
Later Thursday, Rove hit back at Trump for his tweet-storm with some “free advice” for the candidate:
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Write to Tessa Berenson Rogers at tessa.Rogers@time.com