Two days before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton announced that her running mate would be none other than Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. With a rollout at Florida International University in Miami, Clinton introduced Kaine using a label she’s frequently applied to herself: a “progressive who likes to get things done.”
“I have to say, Senator Tim Kaine is everything that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not,” Clinton said.
As true as that might be, Kaine also bears little resemblance to Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist who nearly ran Hillary’s political train off the tracks. Sanders has already endorsed Clinton, but his legion of liberal supporters had hoped the nominee would choose someone more left-leaning than Kaine. On Twitter, filmmaker Michael Moore relayed his dismay over the choice.
“Show me 1 voter gained by naming Tim Kaine,” Moore wrote. “Att’n Hillary campaign: It’s not Trump who’ll beat u. It’s the people who are going to stay home.”
Kaine, though, did not appear to be in Miami to reach out to the disenfranchised youth vote; with a speech that often bounced between English and Spanish, the senator was clearly on a mission to get Hispanics excited about the Democratic ticket.
“Bienvenidos!” he said at one point.
Kaine promised that he and Clinton would be “compañeros de alma in this great lucha ahead.”
But Donald Trump said that it wasn’t just a shared love of illegal immigration that made Clinton and Kaine soulmates.
“Tim Kaine is, and always has been, owned by the banks. Bernie supporters are outraged, was their last choice. Bernie fought for nothing!” Trump said on Twitter.
Later, the Trump campaign issued a statement painting Kaine and Clinton as the “ultimate insiders” ticket.
“The choice has never been clearer — Donald Trump calls on us to believe in America, while the status quo ticket of Clinton-Kaine wants us to believe in a rigged system that enriches them at your expense,” Trump staffer Jason Miller said in a memo to Politico.
Speaking of Politico, they reported earlier this year that Kaine had accepted more than $160,000 in gifts and accommodations during his long stint as governor of Virginia. None of these gifts were illegal thanks to the state’s lax regulations regarding political contributions, but they enforce the narrative that now has Trump calling Clinton’s VP pick “Corrupt Kaine.”
Crooked Hillary and Corrupt Kaine.
The general election is ready to begin, baby.
Comments are closed.