National Review turns the tables on Trump

National Review Editor-In-Chief Rich Lowry borrowed a page from Donald Trump’s playbook today with an email blast seeking to cash in on an attack he made Friday against the magazine.

“He didn’t insult anyone’s wife, give us a nickname, or say that the title of our magazine somehow sounds Chinese,” Lowry wrote. He only said that we are lightweights who serve no purpose and whose publication deserves to die.”

Here’s the statement Trump posted on social media, according to the Review:

“Why does anyone read the National Review. (sic) They are so negative to Conservatives and me and are seen as being led by lightweights that couldn’t shine the shoes of Bill Buckley. They have absolutely nothing going, it is failing fast, and my only question is, who is paying for the losses — when it loses plenty of money and serves no purpose at all. People are tired of haters — let the National Review die peacefully!”

The email utilized those words to set up a financial kill shot, in Trump fashion:

“He wonders who’s funding us, and that’s an easy one — people like you who believe in our cause and who are willing to help out. There’s a reason that Mar-a-Lago wants us to die, and if you envision and hope for a better American future, you should help us live."

The email dropped any pretense of journalistic nonpartisanship in its fundraising appeal.

“We want a Republican Party that can win majorities and that doesn’t limit itself to trying to eke through with 46 percent in presidential elections,” the email stated. “We want a conservatism that is unapologetic and serious-minded and not distorted by one man’s ego or abased by ridiculous conspiracy theories.”