Trump Jr. accuses ‘Democrat’ Barbie of voter fraud. It’s not true, Mattel says
Donald Trump Jr. accused Barbie of voter fraud and being a Democrat, and it didn’t go over well with the toy maker.
The company this week unveiled a 2020 Campaign Team diverse set of dolls that includes a candidate, a campaign manager, a fundraiser and a voter and tweeted photos of the four dolls Tuesday.
In response, Donald Trump Jr. implied voter Barbie had committed voter fraud — and therefore must be a Democrat.
“’Voter’ Barbie must be a Democrat because she’s already wearing an ‘I Voted’ sticker and yet she’s got another ballot in her hand” the president’s son tweeted Wednesday.
But the joke didn’t sit well with Barbie.
“Barbie is not, and has never been, affiliated with a political party,” Mattel said in an emailed statement to McClatchy News on Thursday. “Barbie has always encouraged girls to stand up for what they believe in and shows them they can be anything.”
This is Barbie’s seventh candidacy series, with the first candidate doll released in 1992, per its website.
“This doll set highlights a range of leadership roles to pique their interest in shaping the future and raise their voices – from the podium to the polls,” Mattel said in the statement. “This set also provides a tool to allow families to have conversations around important events and cultural moments through play.”
A Twitter user pointed out to Trump Jr. that it was possible for Barbie to have a sticker and a ballot without having committed voter fraud.
Depending on where she lives and if she was voting by mail, it’s possible the sticker may have come with her ballot or that she put it on while dropping off her ballot.
Mail-in voting has been a topic of debate. While some have pushed for expansion of vote-by-mail options during the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump and some Republicans have argued it leaves too much room for fraud amid concerns more turnout would hurt the party’s chances of winning elections, Reuters reports.
But experts say there has been very little evidence of election fraud over the years and that states that vote entirely by mail have reported very few cases of voter fraud, Reuters reports.
