This is a bizarre story, for several reasons. First off: Donald Trump was widely expected to win Delaware’s 16 delegates anyway. Second, as this Politico article noted Trump started out with a better reputation among longtime Delaware Republicans than he does elsewhere (I mean, it’s not like Delaware’s Maine or anything). Third, and most importantly: who the heck thinks that it’s a good idea to threaten little old ladies?

Oh, wait: I know the answer to that one. “State GOP insiders say [Trump flunky Joe] Uddo ripped their long-standing process from his very first phone call and hinted he might refer it to Trump’s high-powered law firm, Jones Day. Then, he suggested that continued resistance could lead to a nasty Trump campaign tweet about “backroom deals in Delaware,” according to three sources familiar with Uddo’s interactions.” Turns out that one of the delegates in question is, according to Delaware Republicans talking to Politico, indeed a little old lady – and the state Republican party leadership is now not amused. Delegate allocation is strictly in their hands, in order to prevent this very sort of thing from happening – and they were apparently planning to do what they always do: hand out delegate slots to longstanding Republican volunteers in a state that doesn’t have much in the way of rewards for loyal Republicans. And, apparently, those volunteers were inclined towards Trump anyway.

All of this was apparently news for Joe Uddo*, who allegedly went around threatening people with lawsuits and lying to them and trash-talking and all the other stuff that we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump surrogates. Will it cost Donald Trump Delaware? Not likely, more’s the pity. Will it hemorrhage him a couple of extra delegates on the second ballot? Very likely. Are any of you surprised that Donald Trump sends out incompetent** schmucks to do his dirty work? Only if you haven’t been paying attention lately.

Moe Lane

PS: Seriously, there really are times where five minutes of preparation can save hours of pain later. Even a loss of a single delegate here would have been easily preventable. But apparently Team Trump has internalized the (admittedly accurate) mindset that a majority of the party and the country pretty much hates their collective guts.

*Former Ben Carson guy. And I’m starting to associate that sentence with all sorts of antisocial behaviors, honestly.

**Wasn’t Paul Manafort supposed to be smarter than this?