Donald Trump, dumbass (Steve Marcus/Reuters)
Donald Trump:
Said [Donald] Trump: "Rick Santorum was a sitting senator who in re-election lost by 19 points, to my knowledge the most in the history of this country for a sitting senator to lose by 19 points. It's unheard of. Then he goes out and says oh 'okay' I just lost by the biggest margin in history and now I'm going to run for president. Tell me, how does that work? ... So, I don't get Rick Santorum. I don't get that whole thing."
First of all, Santorum didn't lose by 19. He lost by 17.4 percent.
Second of all, what Trump called "knowledge" is apparently whatever he pulls out of his ass. Reality:
Incumbent Senators Defeated by Largest Margins in a General Election:
1914-2008
1980 Jacob Javits 33.8
1932 Wesley Jones 27.9
1968 Ernest Gruening 27.7
1964 James Glenn Beall 25.6
1938 F. Ryan Duffy 23.0
1978 William Hathaway 22.7
1928 Thomas Bayard 21.9
1958 Frederick Payne 21.6
1934 Simeon Fess 20.6
1942 George Norris 20.4
1948 Joseph Ball 20.2
1946 David Walsh 19.9
1934 Roscoe Patterson 19.8
1946 Joseph Guffey 19.5
1930 James Thomas Heflin 19.4
1980 George McGovern 18.8
1958 John Hoblitzell 18.6
1922 Gilbert Hitchcock 18.6
1978 Floyd Haskell 18.4
1976 Vance Hartke 18.3
1976 John Glenn Beall 17.7
1974 Peter Dominck 17.7
1956 Herman Walker 17.5
2006 Rick Santorum 17.4
And that list was pre-2010, when Blanche Lincoln got trounced by 21 points. So 24 senators had bigger losing margins than Santorum. So with this fact check I rate Donald Trump an absolute moron.
Now Trump is right that Santorum is a big loser. But at least he had the balls to run for reelection, something that Romney refused to do after his first term as Massachusetts governor.