Donald Trump campaigners are contractually forbidden from badmouthing him. Ever.
When you make the decision to become a part of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign team, a couple of things have to happen.
First, you have to square away the idea that you’re about to become a part of a political outfit characterized by racism, sexism, homophobia, and general hostility. Then you have to sign a contract saying that no matter how noxious a candidate Trump becomes, you will never, ever publicly bad mouth him in public.
On Monday, a group of potential Trump voters were presented with copies of the contract that were obtained by The Daily Dot. More than a mere non-disclosure agreement preventing campaign volunteers from sharing the Trump machine’s strategies, the contracts went the extra mile of forbidding them and people that may work for them from speaking ill of Trump. So, if your boss became a Trump volunteer, they would be required to prevent you from saying anything bad about Trump as well.
“During the term of your service and at all times thereafter you hereby promise and agree not to demean or disparage publicly the Company, Mr. Trump, any Trump Company, any Family Member, or any Family Member Company,” the second clause of the contract reads. “Or any asset any of the foregoing own, or product or service any of the foregoing offer, in each case by or in any of the Restricted Means and Contexts and to prevent your employees from doing so.”
This wouldn’t be the first time that Trump asked people backing him to make dubious pledges, but it’s certainly one of the most morally and legally dubious ones to date. Perhaps most distressing about the contract is its scope. As The Daily Dot points out, if Trump actually became the next president anyone who actually signs the agreement would be contractually bound by it at least until 2020 and perhaps until 2024 were he reelected.
We’ve reached out to the Trump campaign to see if the rules laid out in the contract are legitimate and will update if and when they respond.