EXCLUSIVE — The Democratic National Committee is using former President Donald Trump‘s 78th birthday to ding him and his vice presidential short list as “extreme.”
The DNC is circulating a mock birthday e-card in which the DNC pretends to be one of Trump’s vice presidential hopefuls, the short list for which includes a number of congressional allies and campaign surrogates. The Trump campaign has asked those Republicans, from Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) to Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), for vetting documents before an expected announcement at next month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“From lying about the 2020 election to pushing your MAGA agenda to ban abortion, raise healthcare costs, and give billionaires another tax handout while gutting Social Security and Medicare, I’ll say and do whatever you need me to,” the DNC, posing as one of the possible vice presidential picks, writes. “I won’t even commit to accepting the results of the next election.”
“When you have a free moment between golf rounds and court visits, we should celebrate!” the DNC adds.
On the campaign trail, Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, has announced that states should decide abortion policy after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and that he does not intend to cut entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. While his 2017 tax cuts do expire next year, he has de-emphasized changes to the healthcare system after he was unable to repeal and replace Obamacare during his first term.
“This is stupid talk from a failing campaign that is desperately trying to distract from the world laughing at their weak and incompetent candidate for shuffling around like a brain-dead zombie at the G7 summit and being ushered around by other world leaders,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Washington Examiner.
The stunt is the latest attempt by the DNC to undermine Trump through the vice presidential hopefuls as Republicans do the same with President Joe Biden, 81, and his vice president, Kamala Harris. The role of vice president has taken on greater significance this and last election cycle given the presidential nominees’ ages and their roles in certifying states’ Electoral College results.
The DNC launched what it calls its “MAGA Veepstakes” project last month “to hold all of Trump’s VP contenders accountable as they sign onto Trump’s dangerous, out-of-touch MAGA agenda as part of their desperate race to the bottom to be his running mate.”
“Like any narcissist, Donald Trump will choose a VP in his image: an extreme, anti-choice MAGA election denier who wants to rip away Americans’ freedoms and sell out working families to help their special interest donors,” DNC communications director Rosemary Boeglin said at the time.
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Simultaneously, Harris’s approval ratings have improved since the start of the Biden administration, though they remain relatively low. Her average approval is 39%, while her average disapproval is 54%, according to RealClearPolitics. Meanwhile, Biden averages 40% approval and 56% disapproval.
“Joe Biden has a base problem,” Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles wrote in a memo in April. “Another problem not going away? Kamala Harris.”