Conservative goes nuclear over Trump's war on red-state voters: 'Beyond frivolous'

New York Times columnist David French blasted the Trump Justice Department’s Alaska lawsuit as “frivolous beyond frivolous” on Charlie Sykes’ “To the Contrary” podcast.

Sykes described the suit, brought at Trump’s direction, as aimed at blocking certification of Alaska’s Senate race if the Republican loses.

French explained that Daniel Sullivan Jr., who shares a name with incumbent Republican Dan S. Sullivan, is also on the ballot. French said he thinks Sullivan Jr. is “actually pretty much a Democrat” who entered to cause confusion, something French dislikes. But the Alaska Supreme Court, he noted, already ruled the candidate can remain on the ballot. The ranked-choice ballot labels the incumbent clearly, French said, so “you have to be trying not to vote for the incumbent Republican.”

The Justice Department sued anyway, citing a section of the National Voter Registration Act, the “motor voter” law, that mentions protecting “the integrity of the electoral process.”

French said that has nothing to do with candidates’ names, and that the department cited only the law’s purpose statement, not an operative provision.

“It’s frivolous beyond frivolous,” French said, adding it’s a suit you’d file while worrying about sanctions.

He said he expects it to be thrown out. But it shows what Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche will do with the department, he said, and its premise is that Alaskans can’t handle the ballot themselves.

The lawsuit comes shortly after Blanche assured reporters the DOJ would not intervene to stop elections from being certified except in a "doomsday scenario."