President Trump Has A New Nickname For Sen. Donnelly: "Sleepin' Joe"

Friday, May 11, 2018 at 10:03 AM

By Mike Perleberg @mikedup84

The president and vice president are preaching party unity following recent primary elections.

Republican Indiana U.S. Senate candidate Mike Braun joined President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Elkhart, Indiana Thursday, May 10.

(Elkhart, Ind.) - President Donald Trump did what he came to Indiana to do: re-energize his base following an ugly U.S. Senate primary election in the state.

The president and vice president held a campaign-style rally on Thursday evening in Elkhart, Indiana to support Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Braun. Braun, a former state representative, handily defeated two sitting congressmen – Todd Rokita and Luke Messer – in Tuesday’s Indiana GOP primary.

Trump took on Indiana's Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly. Labeling him a ‘swamp person’ and giving him a new nickname: “Sleepin’ Joe”.

"He is the least effective Democratic lawmaker in the United States Senate,” Trump told the crowd in the school gymnasium.

He also lambasted Donnelly for voting against the tax reform passed in late 2017. Due in part to the new tax law, Trump said his administration is "rockin", the economy is booming, and optimism is running high across the U.S.

Thank you Indiana! #MAGA🇺🇸https://t.co/fCv76VyUax
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2018

Braun was present with Trump, as well as Vice President and former Indiana governor Mike Pence.

“You can count on me being a true reinforcement and the guy that is going to retire Joe Donnelly,” Braun said.

Donnelly, who is widely viewed as one of the most vulnerable Democratic U.S. Senators up for re-election this year, fired back at the president’s statements in a campaign email Thursday night.

“It's okay that the President and Vice President are here today for politics, but problems only get solved when you roll up your sleeves and put in the hard work. I'm Indiana's hired help in the Senate because I don't work for any president or any political party -- I work for Hoosiers, and that will never change," Donnelly said.