Trump campaign scoops up Biden's Latino voter web address, trolls his voter outreach
It didn't take long for the Trump campaign to figure out how to troll Joe Biden moments after the former vice president's campaign announced a Latino voter outreach program on Wednesday.
Biden, who spent the day campaigning across Pennsylvania and Iowa, announced "Todos Con Biden," a "national network of Latino supporters" working to help elect the former vice president earlier on Wednesday.
But there's one problem. The Biden campaign failed to purchase www.todosconbiden.com, or even lock down the @TodosConBiden Twitter handle before announcing the new effort -- prompting the president's reelection team to do what it does best: troll.
Now, the Trump campaign is using www.todosconbiden.com to mock the former vice president, with a landing page that says in both English and Spanish, "Oops, Joe forgot about Latinos." The page also links out to the president's own Latino outreach coalition "Latinos for Trump." And the @TodosConBiden Twitter account, in the possession of the Trump campaign, has already begun posting unflattering counter messaging targeting Biden.
The reelection team told ABC News they bought the URL for a "minimal cost" after the Trump campaign's coalition team noticed the URL for the new effort was still up for grabs.
"The Biden campaign continues to be inept with a deeply flawed candidate," Deputy Communications Director Erin Perrine told ABC News. "Latinos are thriving under President Trump and now thanks to the Biden camp, people can find out more about that success at www.todosconbiden.com."
In response, the Biden campaign said the move by the Trump campaign was "no surprise."
"It is no surprise that Trump's Campaign would resort to childish antics like this to take attention away from this President's appalling record of separating families and using immigrants as scapegoats, fomenting hatred and white supremacy, and trying to take away health care from millions of Americans who need it," according to Isabel Aldunate, deputy director of strategic communications/Hispanic media press secretary for the Biden campaign.
Scooping up the URL and Twitter handle to mock Biden is just the latest example of the Trump campaign's trolling strategy, which has in part fueled and embodied the reelection effort so far. During the last two Democratic primary debates in Ohio and Houston, the campaign paid thousands of dollars to fly a massive banner above the host cities slamming the president's potential rivals.
The campaign has also turned mockery into cash, selling everything from "Pencil-Neck Adam Schiff" T-Shirts to most recently "Where's Hunter?" shirts, which went on sale less than an hour after the president asked about the former vice president's son at a Minneapolis rally.
And it's not just the Trump campaign who sees a gaffe like this as a broader issue for Biden, who himself has been prone to missteps over his decades-long career.
"How the hell are you Joe Biden's campaign and you don't lock up the URL before you announce stuff?" Mike Madrid, a veteran Republican political consultant who's a vocal critic of the president told ABC News.
On top of trolling Biden, the Trump campaign is using this opportunity to tout the president's record with Latino Americans, such as record low unemployment. But critics, including Madrid, argue economic issues alone won't be enough to sway large numbers of voters given Trump's record on immigration.
"Anybody who believes that economic numbers are going to motivate Latinos to shift allegiances -- that's an absurd notion," Madrid said.
However, the longtime political operative added that if Democrats are going to beat Trump in 2020 it will require a far more efficient operation than the campaign Hillary Clinton ran in 2016, and Wednesday's Biden blunder doesn't instill faith that the 76-year-old former vice president is the best option.
"Can the Democratic nominee get higher Latino voter turnout than the disastrous operation by Hillary Clinton? This tells me that Biden and his campaign are not looking really strong in that regard," Madrid said. "That's what concerns me."
The Biden campaign launched "Todos con Biden" with the goal of growing grassroots support while also promising immigration and education reform for the Latino community.
"Joe Biden knows that our diversity is our strength, and as president, he will continue to ensure that all Americans are treated with dignity -- not scapegoated or used to score political points, " Laura Jiménez, the campaign's national Latino vote director said.
It comes months after the Trump campaign rolled out its own "Latinos for Trump" coalition in June, an effort aimed at turning out Latino voters.
In the 2016 election, Trump took 29% of the Latino vote, topping Romney, who took 27% of the Latino vote in 2012. Hispanics are projected to become the largest minority group in the electorate in 2020, with 18.3%, surpassing African Americans.
ABC News' Molly Nagle and Johnny Verhovek contributed to this report.
