The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is launching a project to attack the list of top Republicans being considered as possible candidates for former President Trump’s running mate.
The committee said in a release Wednesday that “Trump’s MAGA Veepstakes” is designed to hold the potential choices “accountable as they sign onto Trump’s dangerous, out-of-touch MAGA agenda as part of their desperate race to the bottom.” Axios was the first to report the project.
“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,” Rosemary Boeglin, the communications director for the DNC, said in the release.
The release states that the “litmus test” for being considered to be the running mate requires supporting Trump’s false claims of the 2020 presidential election being stolen, supporting bans on abortion, working to repeal the Affordable Care Act and wanting to “sell out working families” and “gut” Social Security and Medicare.
It also includes a series of articles pointing to Trump, his allies or some of the vice presidential contenders taking steps or making statements in favor of these aspects. But Trump has walked a fine line on some of these issues, including stating that he would not sign a national abortion ban, preferring to leave it to the states, and calling for protecting Social Security and Medicare.
After trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act during his presidency, Trump has said as of last month that he is not running to “terminate” it.
Axios reported that the DNC will highlight the possible choices’ words to argue that all of them are extremists and will run ads and direct staff toward the project.
“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,” Boeglin said. “Trump’s VP contenders have all already shown they pass his extreme, MAGA litmus test.”