President Trump’s reelection campaign scoffed at the Democratic presidential field after Thursday night’s primary debate, saying the event served as an “informercial” for the Trump.
“Democrats’ big government socialism would force a government takeover of healthcare, eliminate private insurance, provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants, kill millions of jobs by ending the fossil fuel industry, disarm the American public, and raise taxes to pay for their radical agenda,” said Kayleigh McEnany, Trump campaign national press secretary.
{mosads}“President Trump’s record of accomplishment easily eclipses any of these weak candidates. Thank you to ABC and the Democrat Party for another infomercial for President Trump!”
Trump’s camp has long worked to underline several progressive policies pitched by 2020 candidates, including the Green New Deal, “Medicare for All,” decriminalizing illegal border crossings and more, pointing to them as evidence that a Democratic president would lurch the party to the left.
The campaign flew banners over Houston, the debate’s host city, Thursday, saying “socialism will kill Houston’s economy.”
Medicare for All, in particular, has also divided the primary field, with centrists such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) saying too-liberal policies run the risk of turning off moderate voters.
“If we put socialism on the ballot in 2020, that sounds very risky to me,” former Rep. John Delaney (D-Mass.) told The Hill in June. “The lesson from 2018 is very clear. We flipped the House with moderate candidates. You can’t argue that point. The seats we flipped were with problem solvers, not with litmus test ideologues. We win when we put forth problem solvers who run in the center.”