WASHINGTON: Indian-American presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal has said he will mention Donald Trump in his speeches to get some media coverage as the Republican presidential frontrunner is “gold standard” for making news.
Louisiana Governor Jindal, who is currently ranked 13th among 17 of his Republican presidential candidates, is struggling hard to gain enough media attention to figure himself in the top 10.
“I realise that the best way to make news is to mention Donald Trump. That’s the gold standard for making news these days. So, I’ve decided to randomly put his name into my remarks at various points, thereby ensuring that the news media will cover what I have to say,” Mr Jindal said in his campaign speeches in Iowa yesterday.
Mr Jindal, 44, the first ever Indian-American to run for US presidency, said while the media is glued to everything Mr Trump says and hoping for Republican on Republican attacks, there is a soap opera happening on the Democrat side that needs more attention.
“Since the press is not covering it much, I’m providing you with a report from the Democrat primary: The Democrat candidate in first place is under investigation by the FBI.
The Democrat candidate in second place calls himself a socialist which by the way means he is more honest than the candidate in first place,” he said.
“The Democrat candidate in third place claims that ISIS was caused by climate change, and he apologised for saying that “all lives matter.”
The Democrat candidate in fourth place thinks that America should be using the Metric System. And this list doesn’t even include Joe Biden. I hope Mr Biden gets into the race, we need some of his bizarre comments, we don’t have enough of that already, he said.
“Let’s tell the truth here – This crop of Democrat candidates is terribly weak. It’s a joke. It’s a complete disaster for the Democrat Party. Also did I mention Donald Trump?” Mr Jindal said.
The Washington Post immediately took note of Mr Jindal’s new strategy, carrying a headline reading, “Bobby Jindal’s new strategy: Donald Trump Donald Trump Donald Trump”.
“His experiment yesterday earned him an unmistakable spike in media attention,” the report said as it described Mr Jindal as an underdog candidate.
In an interview with local KWWL, Mr Jindal slammed Mr Trump for his sexist comments on a woman television anchor.
“Look, I think there’s no room for those kinds of comments. Those kinds of derogatory and rude comments, to me, show cowardness. The reality is, we don’t treat people like that where I’m from,” he said.
Mr Jindal said he had four objectives: secure borders, replace Obamacare with a health care system that focuses on freedom and reducing costs, shrink the size of the government and rebuild America’s defenses and restore our standing on the world stage.
PTI