Frank Luntz rips Trump's threat to imprison rivals, says ex-prez is 'determined to blow' election

WASHINGTON, DC: GOP pollster Frank Luntz slammed former president Donald Trump for threatening his political opponents with prosecution and long-term imprisonment in the event of him winning the election.

The ex-Republican strategist, in a series of X (formerly Twitter) posts on Sunday, September 8, claimed that the GOP presidential nominee's pledge would turn into an act of self-sabotage for his third presidential bid.

"I have never seen a candidate more determined to blow an election," Luntz wrote. "Instead of talking about affordability and immigration security (the top public issues), Trump is once again screaming about prosecuting his opponents." He then counseled Trump to focus on helping the voters and not himself.

Frank Luntz says Donald Trump is not 'better' than 2016 and 2020

A Truth Social post by Donald Trump, where he issued a "cease & desist" against the "rampant Cheating and Skullduggery," by the Democrats in the 2020 election, prompted Frank Luntz to call out the former president.

In response to the MAGA spearhead's cheating accusations against his political rivals, the GOP pollster drew a distinction between Trump and his 2024 campaign.

"Heading into the home stretch, Trump's campaign is pretty good this time," he wrote on X. "His campaign operations are better than 2016 and 2020… But he is not."

Trump, who continues to attribute his 2020 loss to election fraud, threatened lawyers, donors, illegal voters, corrupt election officials and political operatives of the repercussions in his social media rant.

Luntz also warned the 45th president he would lose in November if he behaved "badly" in the September 10 ABC News debate with Vice President Kamala Harris despite his improvement in poll numbers.

The former president is in a neck-and-neck race against his Democratic opponents, as per the latest polls.

The Harvard CAPS/Harris survey said the real estate mogul and Harris were tied with 46% support, while The New York Times and Siena College polls showed Trump leading by a single point percentage with 48% support to the vice president's 47%.

"The issues are still working in his favor.  But if Trump behaves baldly on Tuesday, he will lose the debate… And the election. And he’ll have no one to blame but himself," Luntz claimed.

He then quoted New Hampshire Gov Chris Sununu, "You can't have something stolen from you if you've already given it away," signaling Trump was self-sabotaging his chances of victory.

Internet joins Frank Luntz to slam Trump for threatening political rivals with imprisonment

Netizens sided with Frank Luntz and blasted Donald Trump, claiming he would not focus on himself.

"Which is exactly why he shouldn’t be elected. His neurological wiring doesn’t allow him to consider others, even if it sabotages his chance to win," a user said.

"Don’t you get it? He doesn’t care about voters (the American people), he only cares about himself," another opined.

"Its almost like he is planning on losing and preparing to blame cheating as the reason based on 2020," one individual wrote.

"In order for trump to focus on something other than himself you will have to flash some money in his face," a user commented on Mediaite's report.

"Telling Trump to focus on others is like telling Hannibal Lecter to go vegetarian," someone else remarked.

"Trump is out of his mind in a narcissistic rage. He has zero control over himself," a person chimed in.

"Trump's own cyber security director said 2020 was the most secure presidential election in US history so Trump promptly fired him. Trump went to 60 courts to say the election was stolen but he never brought one shred of evidence to prove his case. Trump is a liar and a crook," another user wrote.

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