Donald Trump’s “Fake News Awards” would have landed with a thud even if many people trying to see them hadn’t ended up on an error page. Instead of Trump announcing his “awards” with a spittle-flecked rant, the whole thing was basically a Republican National Committee blog post. Some Republicans who would like to see the RNC doing productive things for November’s elections were not happy:
"The RNC has become the dumpster for misplaced shit that’s too crazy for the actual White House," one source close to the RNC told BuzzFeed News late Wednesday.
Garrett Ventry, a Republican strategist, questioned the use of party resources.
"I understand the RNC is the political arm of the White House, but this basically wasted research talent and time that could’ve been used on Democrat opponents and focusing on the 2018 midterms," Ventry said. "There are a lot of good folks over at the RNC. The focus needs to be selling the president and Republicans’ accomplishments to voters."
Maybe the fact that the RNC isn’t laser focused on selling Trump’s accomplishments to voters is a sign that that’s easier said than done, but you have to wonder about how things played out this way. Did Trump initially envision the “awards” as a webpage and not something he’d personally bestow? If so, why did it get delayed once? The whole thing is pathetic and amusing enough as it is, but the backstory promises to be even more amusing than the public roll-out.