GOP official calls Democratic infighting a 'dream scenario' for Trump's campaign


Democratic presidential candidates are tearing each other apart, and President Trump's re-election team is loving it.
Billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer used Friday's debate to tear up former Vice President Joe Biden over a campaign attack. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spent the debate criticizing former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempts to "buy [his] way into a nomination." And pretty much everyone was united in going after former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg for his lack of experience.
All of that, a GOP operative tells Politico, means the Trump campaign "doesn't have to do anything but step back and watch the Democrats demolish themselves." "If you had asked me at the beginning of all of this which Democrats would be the weakest to run against from the moderate and the progressive lanes," this operative said he'd have cited Buttigieg and Sanders. That's exactly who's leading the pack coming out of the Iowa caucuses, leading to a "dream scenario" for Trump, the operative added.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Meanwhile, Biden, a candidate Trump once feared enough to try and get damaging information about from Ukraine, isn't even getting mentioned in the Trump camp anymore, Politico reports. Biden's name "is now hardly mentioned in conversations with the president's aides ... unless they're mocking him," Politico writes. And after his dismal fourth-place Iowa finish, well, "it looks like he's competing against himself," a top Trump aide said.
Read more about how the Trump campaign is viewing the Democratic melee at Politico.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Book reviews: ‘Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America’ and ‘How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998’
Feature A political ‘witch hunt’ and Helen Garner’s journal entries
By The Week US Published
-
The backlash against ChatGPT's Studio Ghibli filter
The Explainer The studio's charming style has become part of a nebulous social media trend
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?
Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
WHCA rejects White House press seating grab
Speed Read The White House Correspondents' Association objected to the Trump administration's bid to control where journalists sit during press briefings
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump sends more migrants to El Salvador jail
Speed Read Another 17 Venezuelan alleged gang members have been deported to a notorious prison
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump 'not joking' about unconstitutional 3rd term
Speed Read The president seems to be serious about seeking a third term in 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?
In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
By The Week Staff Published
-
Supreme Court upholds 'ghost gun' restrictions
Speed Read Ghost guns can be regulated like other firearms
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump sets 25% tariffs on auto imports
Speed Read The White House says the move will increase domestic manufacturing. But the steep import taxes could also harm the US auto industry.
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump allies urge White House to admit chat blunder
Speed Read Even pro-Trump figures are criticizing The White House's handling of the Signal scandal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Waltz takes blame for texts amid calls for Hegseth ouster
Speed Read Democrats are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Michael Waltz to step down
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published