South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is benefiting after Joe Biden botched a call to supporters to text “Joe” to 3-0-3-3-0 during his closing statement at Wednesday’s debate, instead appearing to direct people to visit “Joe30330.”
Jokes about Biden’s flop circulated online as people attempted to decipher the former vice president’s message.
Some said Biden was hinting at another presidential run in year 3030 or just gave out U.S. nuclear codes. Others wondered why Biden would use such an atypical website name, “joe30330.com,” for his campaign.
“Go to Joe 3-0-3-3-0, and help me in this fight.”
Joe, what in God’s name was this? pic.twitter.com/Yq1g5mXI6m
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 1, 2019
Buttigieg’s campaign is reaping the benefits of Biden’s flop. Visiting “joe3030.com” redirects the user to “peteforamerica.com,” Buttigieg’s official campaign website.
When asked if the Buttigieg campaign had any involvement in buying the URL, Buttigieg national press secretary Chris Meagher told the Washington Examiner, “Not that I know of.”
The domain “joe30330.com” appears to have been purchased by a Buttigieg fan and troll presidential campaign called Josh for America. The URL redirects to “joshforamerica.com.” Under the donate tab, a message at the top of the page reads:
“If Joe Biden sent you here, we just want to make something clear: we’re not affiliated with any presidential campaign. We’re just having some good fun (maybe a little bit at the expense of Joe).”
The fake campaign website was originally created as an April Fools prank.
Further down the donation page, a message says that Josh for America cannot take any donations because the campaign is considered to be “not legitimate” by ActBlue. The campaign encourages the visitor to donate to Buttigieg’s campaign instead while “Josh” sorts through the issue with ActBlue.
