Scoop: Inside the DNC's plans to paint Trump VP contenders as extreme
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The Democratic National Committee is launching a "Trump's MAGA Veepstakes" project to paint all of former President Trump's VP contenders as extreme on denying the results of the 2020 election and on abortion among other policy issues.
Why it matters: As dozens of Trump's potential vice presidential picks do their best to distinguish themselves in the lead up to Trump's selection, Democrats plan to lump them together as "all the same" in terms of backing an "ultra-MAGA" policy agenda, DNC officials tell Axios.
Driving the news: The DNC, in coordination with the Biden campaign, plans to mobilize across departments to spotlight the VP candidates' positions on policy and use their own words against them to make the case that the whole field of candidates is extreme, a committee official told Axios.
- It also plans to run paid ads and dedicate staff across the communications, digital and research departments to the effort.
- The vice presidential debate in July or August, the official says, will be another key opportunity for the DNC to define Trump's vice presidential pick.
The big picture: Since early on in the primary season, Biden's team set out to expand his re-election strategy beyond Trump to target the MAGA movement and its impact on U.S. politics.
- Trump, for his part, has had positive things to say about just about every lawmaker who's been floated for the ticket.
- Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is "unbelievable"; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) "His name is coming up a lot"; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is "a very rich man," Trump told supporters at a Mar-a-Lago luncheon earlier this month.
What they're saying: "Trump has floated dozens of names, and while he trots them around like sad show ponies on the campaign trail, it doesn't really matter who's in his good graces one day and who's shooting their dog the next," DNC Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin told Axios in a statement.
- "Trump's VP contenders have all already shown they pass his extreme, MAGA litmus test."
The other side: Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told Axios: "The DNC and their media defenders will stop at nothing to gaslight the American people into believing their lies and forgetting their disastrous record."
- "The fact is that their VP candidate Kamala Harris, as border czar, has presided over record numbers of illegal crossings across the Southern border and overseen a horrible economic record dominated by crushing inflation numbers.
- "The Biden-Harris agenda has put American lives in danger and the country can't survive another four years of their failed leadership."
Details: The DNC plans to zoom in on a set of four issues in particular where they expect Trump's eventual running mate to have vulnerabilities:
- 2020 election — Refusing to certify the results of the 2020 or 2024 election if they were VP
- Abortion — Applauding Trump's role in overturning Roe v. Wade and supporting a national abortion ban
- Health care — Supporting plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act
- Working families — Tax cuts for billionaires and cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare
Reality check: Trump has not made it all that easy for Democrats to box him in on several of those issues, and his vice presidential contenders have taken his lead.
- After Trump said that abortion access should be left up to the states, Scott, for example, backed away from the 15-week abortion ban he supported during his presidential run.
- Trump also recently said he's not running to terminate the Affordable Care Act after suggesting last year that he would repeal it.
- He's also frequently talking about protecting Social Security and Medicare, Axios analysis shows.
