CNN commentator and Democratic policy strategist Paul Begala was stunned by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ opinion. leaked advice on presidential debateHe called it “the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
The New York Times on Thursday published documents featuring detailed debate and campaign strategies for the Republican presidential nominee published on the website of Axiom Strategies, a company owned by DeSantis’ super PAC chief strategist, Never Back Down.
After The Times requested comment Thursday, a specific memo was removed from the site. Hours later, the other documents were reportedly removed.
The memo in question presented four main goals for DeSantis at the debate:
1. Attack Joe Biden and the media 3-5 times.
2nd state [DeSantis’] positive vision 2-3 times.
3. Hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in response.
4. Defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to an attack by Chris Christie.
“Leaking that is the stupidest thing I’ve seen in a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of stupid things,” Begala said of the memo. “If Governor DeSantis wants to defend Donald Trump, that’s Donald Trump’s job. He has many defenders.”
Begala added that the DeSantis team put the governor in a terrible position ahead of the Aug. 23 debate, “because now, anything he says in the debate, we’re going to be like, ‘Oh, that was a script. ‘” That was wrong.'”
The other candidates mentioned in the memo, CEO Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, should “send a fruit basket or something to the DeSantis super PAC and thank them,” Begala said.
The memo also instructed DeSantis to “throw up a personal anecdote about family, kids, Casey and showing emotion,” and suggested specific lines he could use to defend Trump and attack Ramaswamy.
According to the Times, it was published alongside hundreds of other pages of campaign advice, research and polls for the Florida governor’s campaign.
Trump has indicated he will not be attending the Fox News debate in Milwaukee next week. He leads DeSantis, his closest rival in the polls, by nearly 40 points. according to RealClearPolitics.