Biden's campaign reportedly asked potential running mates to think about nicknames Trump might give them
As part of former Vice President Joe Biden's vetting process for potential running mates, he asked them to use their imaginations and think of the different nicknames President Trump might use against them, campaign officials told The Wall Street Journal.
Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, picked Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Tuesday. In the final days before he made his choice, Biden's team interviewed 11 other possible candidates, including Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). Before that, there were more than 20 people in the running, the Journal reports, and one of the questions they were all asked was, "What do you think Trump's nickname for you will be?"
Warren already knew the answer, as Trump has called her "Pocahontas" numerous times, and he has also referred to Whitmer as "the woman in Michigan." The campaign officials didn't reveal how Harris answered the question, but shortly after Biden broke the news of her selection, the Trump campaign dubbed her "Phony Kamala."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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