On Tuesday, failing Senate candidate and presidential hopeful Robert “Beto” O’Rourke used Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro to try to score a little fundraising cash.
“Team Beto” sent out an email with the subject line: “Trump, the NRA, Ben Shapiro, and Brit Hume.”
“Beto’s running a new kind of campaign,” the email assures Democrats. “One that throws out the old political playbook and fully focuses on people. It starts with engaging everyone, everyday, everywhere — whether they’re in an early state, a deep red state, or a blue state.”
The fundraising post named Shapiro — along with President Donald Trump, Fox News’ Brit Hume, The National Rifle Association (NRA), and Arkansas Lt. Gov Tim Griffin — as some of the folks “nervous” about the Democrat’s, uh, “success,” apparently.
“They’re right to be nervous!” the email exclaims. “Beto is a huge threat to the lot of them. Not just because he’s an incredible leader (and he is!) but because all of us are building a nationwide grassroots movement to take power back for the people — no matter where they live.”
The post then asks for $5 from supporters: “If we beat Trump, it’ll be because we built the largest grassroots campaign this country has ever seen. And that all comes down to you, and what you’re willing to do. Hence the email asking you for $5.”
When the campaign plea was posted by The Daily Wire’s Molly Prince, Shapiro sharply responded: “Now that Beto is fundraising off me, I expect his poll numbers to skyrocket to 4 percent.”
Ouch.
Mr. O’Rourke has not exactly delivered the Second Coming we were promised by his allies in the media. In fact, the Democrat has had a dismal showing.
According to a CNN/SSRS poll released on Tuesday, O’Rourke is at a low 3% (only one percent shy of Shapiro’s hopes for the Democrat!), showing no movement at all from a June CNN/SSRS poll. In April, however, he peaked at a full 6%.
Vanity Fair all but pronounced O’Rourke’s candidacy dead at the end of May, writing of the Democrat’s decline: “Six or so months ago, Beto O’Rourke was ascendant: young, earnest, eloquent, the perfect antidote to Donald Trump, a former punk rocker from El Paso, Texas, who could woo red-state voters and perhaps teach liberals a thing or two about winning back flyover country, potentially even elbowing out the retirement-age Joe Biden. Or so his supporters hoped. Instead, after two months on the presidential campaign trail, O’Rourke seems to be little danger to Biden, let alone Trump, judging by the number of people not looking to take O’Rourke down.”
The Daily Wire reached out to O’Rourke’s team on Tuesday about the email naming Mr. Shapiro, but did not receive a response.