WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In February 2016, the Republican and Democratic nominating conventions were five months away, and Trump’s self-funded campaign was viewed as not serious by seasoned US pundits and corporate media outlets, only to be resoundingly disproved by enthusiastic voter support for the New York billionaire.
"I know you can’t look past Bernie [Sanders] and March primaries, but who is in charge of the Trump swiftboat project?" Glover Park Group (GPG) Managing Director Joel Johnson wrote to Clinton campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri in a February 26, 2016 email.
Swiftboat refers to charges against 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, which criticized Kerry’s service on US Navy swiftboat patrols during the Vietnam War and the candidate’s subsequent anti-war protests. Former US President George W. Bush narrowly won that election.
At the time of Johnson’s warning to Palmieri, US primaries had been underway for less than a month, Clinton was facing a vigorous challenge from US Senator Sanders in the Democratic primary and Trump had just begun to whittle down more than a dozen opponents on the Republican side.
The "swiftboat project," Johnson wrote, "needs to be ready, funded and unleashed when we decide, but not a half-assed scramble."
Palmieri replied, "We thought we could half-ass it. Let's discuss."
