America First Action, the pro-Trump Super PAC, is staying out of the Democratic primary until a victor emerges limping from the “gauntlet.”
The PAC intends on assisting the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC), with its millions of dollars in fundraising, access to conservative political data and hefty file of opposition research. But, at least for now, the latter will not be used as campaign fodder, as the group hopes to let Democrats do the attacking.
“We’re just going to feed stuff into that ecosystem and let [Democrats] make that decision,” the group’s president, Brian Walsh, told The Daily Caller on Thursday.
The “stuff” comes from America Rising, a conservative opposition research group that does traditional research and also sends trackers to Democratic town halls and campaign events to capture the biggest gaffes on video.
Walsh, a political operative with decades of experience under his belt, is quelling concerns about former Vice President Joe Biden’s potential ability to attract President Donald Trump’s blue-collar base. (RELATED: Big Money Trump Group: The Road To The White House Is Paved With Six States)
“The most common question we get is, ‘What about Biden?’ Maybe I’m naive, but I’m not as afraid of Joe Biden as everybody else is. The guy has got a 40-year career in Washington,” Walsh argued. “He ran for president twice and lost.”
A long career in politics does indeed come with plenty of material for opponents to cash in: to name a few, Biden’s old comments embracing segregation, his votes for tough-on-crime bills, his inappropriate touching of women and his son’s cozy relationship with Ukraine.
Walsh predicts that other Democratic candidates will be using Biden’s history well before Trump ever has to.
“At some point, the rest of that field is going to have to wake up and decide whether they want to win and the day they do, the day they realize he stands in their way and we’re going to be sitting back and watching that,” he told the Caller.
Biden is well aware of the fact that Republicans would love to see Democrats eat their own, and has promised not to “speak ill” of his competition. At the same time, he told reporters Wednesday that he believes the field will be “winnowed out pretty quickly.”
Linda McMahon, who left the Small Business Administration to chair America First, predicted that Biden’s nice-guy persona won’t last long.
“[Biden] is trying to hold them at bay a little bit, by his public comments, you know, ‘I’m just not going to be saying anything about those who are running on the Democratic primary. I don’t believe in doing that,'” McMahon said, adding, “Let’s see.
“My general argument is whomever it may be, the person the president is going to face is not the person you see today,” Walsh asserted. “They are going to go through this gauntlet of the Democratic primary.”