PHILADELPHIA ― Some New Yorkers might be offended, but Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine offered up a scathing imitation of GOP nominee Donald Trump Wednesday night, complete with a bad Queens accent.
Kaine, who was tapped in part to be Hillary Clinton’s likable attack dog, let Trump have it with a riff on the real estate mogul’s trustworthiness.
“You know who I don’t trust? Hmm, I wonder,” Kaine began, after saying he trusts the life of his own son, who’s deployed overseas with the Marines, in the hands of Clinton.
Everyone could see the answer coming. What took people by surprise was the former Jesuit missionary adopting Trump’s tone.
“Trump is a guy who promises a lot, but you might have noticed he’s got a way of saying the same two words every time he makes his biggest, hugest promises: ‘believe me,’” Kaine said, launching into the role of Trump. “It’s going to be great, ‘believe me.’ We’re going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, ‘believe me.’ We’re going to destroy ISIS so fast, ‘believe me.’”
Most polls find voters rate Clinton worse than Trump on trustworthiness. Kaine’s performance showed that the campaign intends to try to turn that around. It also seemed designed to get under Trump’s skin.
Kaine put an exclamation point on it by pointing out that unlike other presidential contenders in the past, Trump has refused to release his tax returns.
‘There’s nothing suspicious in my tax returns, ‘believe me,’” Kaine said.
“Hey, Donald, what are you hiding?” Kaine said.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.