Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer purchased the website domain of President Trump’s reelection campaign slogan and is using it to campaign against him.
Steyer, a billionaire philanthropist, purchased the URL bearing Trump’s signature catchphrase for 2020, “Keep America Great.” When users visit the website, they are directed to a bright yellow page featuring the words “TRUMP IS A FRAUD & A FAILURE” in large letters across the screen.
[Read: Trump reveals 2020 slogan: ‘Keep America Great!’]
“Donald Trump failed as a businessman,” smaller text reads. “He borrowed billions, and left a trail of bankruptcy and broken promises. He hasn’t changed. Tom Steyer is running for president because unlike other candidates, he can go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump on the economy and expose him for what he is – a fraud and a failure.”
The website, which says it is paid for by Steyer’s campaign at the bottom, also allows visitors to purchase a bumper sticker that declares Trump a “fraud and a failure” for $1.
“Trump’s campaign prides itself on hoarding websites of political opponents, but they forgot to pick up the URL for their signature re-election slogan, ‘Keep America Great,’” the Steyer campaign said in a Monday email.
Despite that claim, the website had actually been used for years as a website opposing Trump. As far back as 2016 the owner used it to actively oppose Trump’s slogan of “Make America Great Again.” An internet archive took a screenshot in November 2016 that showed it had already been purchased to push back on the president’s campaign. The website featured shirts with #StopTheHate emblazoned on them.
Tim Murtaugh, the director of communications for Trump’s 2020 campaign told the Washington Examiner that Steyer was being disingenuous about how the URL was purchased. He said that framing it as an oversight by the Trump campaign was incorrect.
“Tom Steyer is lying about the availability of this website and he knows it. The site was created in 2015, well before the election of 2016, and has been a Trump-hating website for more than four years,” Murtaugh said.
Trump’s reelection campaign has used the same tactic as Steyer against Joe Biden. His campaign purchased the domain name TodosConBiden.com. Biden’s campaign used the phrase, which means “All for Biden” in Spanish, for its outreach to Latino voters. The website now redirects to a page that reads, “Oops, Joe forgot about Latinos. Joe is all talk.” The page also has a link to a “Latinos for Trump” website.
