This initial information won’t be at all shocking, but the Republican National Committee is already working on ways to discredit Hillary Clinton’s chosen vice-presidential candidate. They’d certainly be fools for failing to form a strategy, but reading about the inner workings is always a juicy experience. The Huffington Post acquired what they believe is an authentic memorandum that is dated June 24 and addressed to RNC Chief of Staff Kate Walsh and Donald Trump’s new campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
The four-page report dispenses with formalities and proceeds to take down several candidates thought to be on the Clinton shortlist. We’ve discussed some of them, including Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro, and Thomas Perez. And Warren is already reportedly on the takedown list of Wall Street, so it’s not a stretch to imagine that the RNC sees her as a threat. Indeed, they seem quite worried that she’ll capture far-left Sanders voters:
“A Clinton-Warren ticket represents taking America down the path of the radical left that would be even worse than the status quo and further divide the country. We should highlight Warren’s intensely liberal and uncompromising positions on taxes, regulation, immigration, and social issues as being at odds with Middle America and pandering mainly to the liberal, urban elite. A Clinton-Warren ticket reeks of insincerity … Warren is personally untrustworthy.”
The report also claims that Warren secretly takes contributions from the corporations she opposes, which isn’t backed up with proof. Then they parrot some of Trump’s tweet storms, including the notion of Warren exaggerating her Native American heritage. But mostly, Warren is seen as far too “extreme” for the RNC to tolerate. The criticisms of Castro only include calling him a “John Edwards-esque pick,” who could easily be dismantled as “someone with good looks, but a thin resume.” Whereas Warren sets off true alarms because — as the report indicates — anyone Clinton chooses must be framed as a slight against Sanders reporters. Many of Warren’s positions run pretty dang close to Bern territory, so the RNC won’t want to see her win the VP lottery.
The most revealing part of the memo isn’t even what’s said about each of these Clinton VP prospects. Instead, there’s an almost hilarious accusation of how Clinton’s simply “checking boxes and appeasing constituencies” by considering any of these people as candidates. Isn’t that what’s actually expected of any party nominee? Anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t very savvy, so the RNC is pretty much stating the obvious. Trump’s team should be checking off boxes too. You can read the full memo here.
(Via Huffington Post)