Caroline Heldman
Role at the time: Democratic strategist and Occidental College professor, appearing on CNN
Statement summary
Heldman says a billionaire is using the "Martha's Vineyard set" line to attack Obama and that the joke's purpose was to poke Trump.
“A billionaire talking about ... to attack Barack Obama. ... it's obviously getting under Trump's skin. That is the whole point; that Barack Obama wanted to poke him.”
The broadcast transcript includes clips of Obama, Trump and Bessent and Caroline Heldman's interpretation of the joke. The Obama clip comes from his Detroit rally. The transcript ends that clip with "It's -- it's just gold. Literally." In the rally recording Obama says "It's just gold everywhere."
Why we used this label
Relative to Obama's comparison, Heldman answers its critics: she points out that a billionaire is using the "Martha's Vineyard set" line to attack Obama and says the joke was meant to poke Trump. She praises Obama's campaigning but does not argue that the comparison itself was justified, so this challenges how the joke's critics characterize it rather than defending it.