Joe Biden's team freaked out over Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Democratic National Convention roasting of Trump, written by Veep showrunner David Mandel

Vanity Fair

According to an excerpt from the upcoming book Luck: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, Democratic National Convention organizer Stephanie Cutter told Mandel to cut a joke from Louis-Dreyfus' monologue that said “the only time Donald Trump has struggled is walking down a ramp and trying to drink a glass of water.” Cutter was worried that the joke would make Biden more susceptible to more jokes that he was senile and had dementia. “You not opening the dementia thing is not going to prevent the Republicans from doing it till the end of time,” Mandel tried to explain to her. There were more jokes that Cutter wanted cut that led the pair to argue with each other over the phone. Ultimately, Mandel backed down. The substitute: “Donald Trump thinks ‘self-made’ means inheriting only half a billion dollars from your dad.”