Remember that hilarious novel turned movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?
Well imagine if you will the roles were reversed and Lincoln himself were an undead vampire and also so is George Washington—or maybe they're zombies—and they decided to run for President and Vice President together.
Well, former Republican President Donald Trump is so enormously popular he'd beat that undead ticket. At least that's what he claims pollster John McLaughlin told him.
Like, seriously almost verbatim.
Speaking Wednesday at the Hispanic Leadership Conference in Miami, Trump claimed McLaughlin told him he'd not only beat undead Lincoln and Washington but he'd do so by a 40% landslide.
McLaughlin—described as the GOP's worst pollster—was hired by Trump in 2016 and remained on the Trump train through Trump’s 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.
You can see Trump’s comments here:
\u201cTrump says pollster told him: \u201cIf George Washington and Abraham Lincoln came alive from the dead and formed a President and VP team, you would beat them by 40%.\u201d\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
He told the crowd in Miami:
“I remember a very famous pollster, very well known, John McLaughlin, came to my office just prior to the plague coming and he said, ‘Sir, if George Washington and Abraham Lincoln came alive from the dead and they formed a President-Vice President team, you would beat them by 40 percent.’"
"That’s how good our numbers were.”
Honestly who knows, that may have been something a Trump employee told him.
Trump was frequently criticized by former members of his administration for only wanting sycophants and acolytes around him. Anyone not praising him constantly soon found themselves pushed out.
But it certainly wasn't true after "the plague" came, when the American electorate decided they were so traumatized by watching Trump do basically nothing about "the plague" they decided to show up in record numbers to vote him out of office.
Funny how that happens.
Anyway, Trump's is a pretty bold claim given a recent poll of presidential historians conducted by C-SPAN rated Lincoln and Washington first and second place, respectively, while Trump placed third from last above only true disasters Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan.
Regardless, he's made the claim before—albeit without roping John McLaughlin into it.
Last year he told Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig:
“I think it would be hard if George Washington came back from the dead and he chose Abraham Lincoln as his Vice-President, I think it would have been very hard for them to beat me."
Okay then.
On Twitter, this quote got people's attention.
\u201c@RonFilipkowski\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
\u201c@RonFilipkowski A big strong pollster with tears in his eyes, he said \u201cMr. President, sir \u2026.\u201d\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
\u201c@RonFilipkowski Truly this legend in his own mind has become so desperate and pathetic he tells nothing but "sir" stories.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
\u201c@RonFilipkowski Shouldn't he be showing concern for the Floridians affected by Hurricane Ian? I mean, if a former president resides in a state that was bigly affected by a hurricane, don't you think a former president would at least give lip service to those affected. Instead we have this?\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
\u201c@RonFilipkowski Translation: I made this up to soothe my own ego. No one else would say something so ridiculous. We fired TFG 2 years ago and he won\u2019t leave us alone.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
\u201c@RonFilipkowski\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
\u201c@RonFilipkowski George Washington, friend of mine, great guy. Chopped down a cherry tree once. We do love cherries though. Jeff Epstein, he liked cherries too. Another friend of mine. Had that island, out there in the stream. Great song. That is what we are. Where are we? Who am I?\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
\u201c@RonFilipkowski Trump continued...\n\n"Then Tiger Woods told me that if Zeus, Hercules, Thor, Ra, Guan Yu, Jesus, Kagutsuchi, Balor, Indra, Atar, Hotamintanio, Kadlu, Tiamat, and Donald Trump were to play golf, I would beat them ALL by at least 27 strokes."\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
\u201c@RonFilipkowski @atrupar In a Republican primary, he\u2019s almost certainly correct.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1665003664
Ludicrous as his claims are, among those who identify as Republicans, he may just be on to something.
In a 2019 poll, Trump beat a hypothetical undead Lincoln by three points.
Unfortunately, the GOP hasn't figured out a way to keep everyone else from voting yet.
@kirstendunst/Instagram