The Des Moines Register, the publication Politico calls "Iowa's most influential newspaper" doesn't think Donald Trump should be in the race, period, and that he should "pull the plug on his bloviating side show." An editorial published last night says Trump's concentration on his own brand over public service, as well as his recent tirades on Mexican immigrants and Sen. John McCain, make him patently unqualified to be "the leader of the free world and the keeper of our nuclear launch codes." "He has become 'the distraction with traction'—a feckless blowhard who can generate headlines, name recognition, and polling numbers not by provoking thought, but by provoking outrage," the editorial states; that characterization also earns Trump the title of "World's Greatest Troll" from Nate Silver on FiveThirtyEight.
And it's not just his own campaign that Trump undermines every time he opens his maw. "By using his considerable wealth, his celebrity status, and his mouth to draw attention to himself, rather than to raise awareness of the issues facing America, he has coarsened our political dialogue and cheapened the electoral process," the editorial says. In fact, he's "polluted the political waters" so much that candidates who may have something valuable to impart aren't getting the chance, the paper adds. And because he's captured so much attention and is doing well in polls, he'll likely steal a spot in the upcoming debates from one of those candidates. Meanwhile, Silver has his own Trump solution of sorts: "Don't feed the troll. The only way to kill a troll like Trump is to deprive him of attention." (Read the Register's entire argument, as well as how Silver thinks Trump is exploiting the system.)
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