Trump campaign scoops up Biden’s Latino voter web address, trolls his voter outreach

Yesterday, to some fanfare Joe Biden kicked off his Latino outreach effort.

Today, we're launching Todos con Biden. Latinos have contributed so much to our country—you're part of the fabric of America & you deserve a president who respects you & will fight alongside you.

Join me as we continue to build on the progress we've made: https://t.co/7c2ZAB1Yf4 pic.twitter.com/GChKfKsu12

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 23, 2019

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 — and president’s reelection team didn’t waste time looking a gift horse in the mouth and were quick to take advantage of this major oversight. They locked in the domain name and Twitter handle and started immediately trolling Biden.

So 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 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.”

Everyone follow @todosconbiden to learn about @JoeBiden's record with the Latino community!

— Team Trump (@TeamTrump) October 23, 2019

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.

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.