GOP candidate's behind-the-scenes gaffe reveals what he thinks of 'not popular' Trump

An apparent behind-the-scenes note telling staff to avoid mentioning Donald Trump showed up on the campaign site of Minnesota Republican Eric Pratt, the Daily Beast reports.

“The President is not popular, so all messaging should be focused on local politics and needs,” read a sentence in the site’s “Pratt Playbook” section. It came right after a paragraph about his priorities. A social media user named @auautumntumn posted a screenshot Tuesday. The sentence has since vanished, leaving a page that doesn’t mention Trump either positively or negatively.

The user guessed the campaign had AI generate its policy platform and accidentally published a prompt-style instruction along with the final text. It's unclear whether this is really what happened. The campaign hasn’t confirmed that explanation, and Pratt hasn’t responded to requests for comment.

Pratt, 62, is a state senator and former bank executive running in Minnesota’s 2nd District, the seat Democratic Rep. Angie Craig is leaving. His opponent, Democrat Matt Little, has tried to link him to the president, accusing him of being “scared of Daddy Trump.” Pratt said Little is “running against Donald Trump” while he’s “really running to represent the people of the 2nd District.”

Other Republicans are distancing themselves too.

According to a Reuters investigation, candidates in 41 of 62 competitive House races have broken with Trump or downplayed their ties. Carlos De La Cruz of Texas swapped “Trump Conservative” for “Proven Conservative” on his site, Mike Beltran of Florida deleted language about standing with the president, and Michigan’s Mike Bouchard dropped a prominent mention of Trump’s endorsement.

One of the most prominent examples is Rep. Byron Donalds, currently running for Florida governor, who dropped references to Trump from his site. The president lashed out over the "fake" reports about this last month.