CNN political contributor Paul Begala’s jokes about former President Trump had network anchor Kate Bolduan and guest S.E. Cupp in laughing fits Monday.
On “CNN News Central,” Begala first got them going by saying, “Biden only has to do seven things to win. And I memorized them. They’re in alphabetical order, Kate: Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack.”
The line got the women laughing, as they had expected a detailed list and “totally fell for” Begala’s set up.
Begala then talked about how Biden’s campaign is doing far better in fundraising than Trump’s, explaining the difference with a reference to the song “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems” by The Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls.
Former President Trump only reported $30 million of cash-on-hand in February, while President Joe Biden reported $130 million. (Getty Images)
“The Biden campaign is raising extraordinary amounts of money. The Democratic Party, by the way, raised $120 million last year. The Republicans only raised $82 [million]. Democrats have $21 million cash on hand. Republicans only have…they only have eight. This is where, and I hate to do this, Kate, because I know you love him, this is where Biggie was wrong. It’s no money, mo’ problems.” Begala said.
Cupp and Bolduan began laughing at the comment and could not stop as Begala continued.
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“First off, the notion of Donald Trump tightening his belt. What’s he going to go down to? About a 64 triple XL? That’s not a belt you want to tighten too much. And it’s also terrible news for the porn star community,” Begala added.
“I don’t know what to do!” Bolduan remarked as she and Cupp kept laughing. “I come here to help inform America. I am just getting attacked and don’t know what to do with my face half the time!”
“What just happened?” Cupp asked.
CNN’s Kate Bolduan and S.E. Cupp laughed at Paul Begala’s comments on Trump’s campaign. (CNN screenshot)
“What happened is we got it.” Bolduan said. “We got Paul Begala’s seven plans for taking me down, it’s attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack. And we all love you, Paul.”
“We love you, Paul,” Cupp said at the same time. “We didn’t plan that. We love Paul.”
“I’m ending it. I’m just going to end it,” Bolduan finally declared as the laughter started to die down, throwing to the next anchor, Sara Sidner, who joined in joking and laughing about Biggie Smalls.
Bolduan was reduced to begging, “Sara, please take it.”
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The Trump campaign has been mocked by Democrats over his campaign finances. ((Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))
In February, the Biden campaign stated that it raised more than $42 million in January with $130 million in cash-on-hand across all of its joint-fundraising committees — a figure the president’s re-election team is touting as “the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate in history” at this point in the election cycle.
Those numbers compare to just $30 million cash-on-hand reported by the Trump campaign at the end of January, after all the former president’s fundraising entities reported bringing in nearly $2.5 million less than Nikki Haley’s campaign, despite his vast polling advantage.
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“It’s been a tough couple of weeks if you are Donald Trump and also like money,” Biden campaign official Ammar Moussa told Fox News Digital. “The RNC had its worst fundraising year in decades, is hemorrhaging cash, and now Trump enters the general election with the weakest operation in recent history.”
Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.
Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick.
