Democrats allegedly 'don't give a s--t' about Trump's threats to live tweet their debate


They say there is no such thing as bad publicity — which may be true, at least so long as you're not a candidate in a political debate (you can take that one from Rick Perry). Yet even with President Trump threatening to live tweet the Democrat's showdown on Wednesday night, the opposing campaigns are taking things in stride. Or, to put it more bluntly: "We don't give a s--t about that at all," Julián Castro's spokesman, Sawyer Hackett, told Vice News.
Trump will reportedly be watching the debate on board a plane headed to the G-20 summit in Japan, and has already told NBC News that he believes the evening will be "very boring" due to the "very unexciting group of people" on stage. Trump nevertheless has already begun honing his attacks, having recently called former Vice President Joe Biden, who will appear in Thursday's debate, a "lost soul" who "doesn't know where he is."
Castro's spokesman skewered Trump for making the night about himself, adding that the president "can't even let the Democratic process play out without inserting his ego into it." Other campaigns that spoke to Vice News seemed similarly disinterested in engaging with the president on Twitter, with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' team saying they planned to stay "focused on the audience of voters."
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Still, there might be something to be said for preparing for attacks; the Republican National Committee has already readied at least four dozen surrogates to respond to the debate around the country, Politico reports. "We know what a lot of the Democrats are going to say about several things," one Trump campaign official confirmed, "but we'll be ready for the unpredictable as well."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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