Democratic National Convention chief program executive, Stephanie Cutter, reportedly asked for host Julia Louis-Dreyfus to tone down her 2020 DNC act, according to an excerpt from the forthcoming book, LUCKY: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency.
The excerpt from Jonathan Allen's book printed in Vanity Fair describes how Cutter demanded that Veep showrunner David Mandel, who was writing a script for the show’s fictional VP, cut a joke about how Biden understood hard work and struggle, whereas “the only time Donald Trump has struggled is walking down a ramp and trying to drink a glass of water”.
“We’re not opening the dementia thing,” Cutter said, insinuating that joking about Trump's clumsiness could remind viewers that Trump portrayed Biden as senile.
“You not opening the dementia thing is not going to prevent the Republicans from doing it till the end of time,” Mandel said in response.
According to the excerpt, Cutter and the whole of Biden's campaign for President was meant to seem bland and predictable.
“One half of his low bar for success had been set by Trump, who told the public that Biden was an enabler of socialism and crime who couldn’t speak English in complete sentences. The other half came from an anti-Trump coalition that would forgive almost any Biden misstep,” the passage reads.
The strategy, apparently, worked - filed-down jokes and all.
A passage reads: “’The convention was as successful as could have been hoped for,’ said one of the organizers. ‘A lot of that had to do with the technical production more than content.’ In other words, the show was more competent than compelling – just the message Biden needed to project.”
LUCKY: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency will be released on 2 March.
