In February, Politico reported that as far back as 2013, at a meeting with NY political operatives who wanted him to run for governor, Trump spurned their advances, instead outlining an ad-less path to the presidency in 2016 – one predicated on the power of “earned media”.
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The ad’s airing is a change of tack for the Republican candidate, whose campaign had previously spent exactly $0 on television spots so far this election season, compared to million by the Clinton campaign – although outside affiliates have run about $12 million worth for him, and $43 million for her.
Clinton and her campaign attribute much of her low approval ratings to a belief that voters like Clinton more when she’s working than campaigning, a view that they say is intertwined with the scandals of her husband’s administration, years of relentless GOP attacks and how Americans view female candidates. Also undocumented immigrants typically use unauthorized Social Security numbers to work, so they pay into the system, but can’t receive benefits, though it is possible to access benefits if they eventually attain legal status. Our border open. It’s more of the same, but worse.
The imagery shows immigrants with blurred-out faces being handcuffed or simply walking around.
Trump’s America is simple: “secure”. “Terrorists and unsafe criminals kept out, the border secure, our families safe”. Central American families and unaccompanied children continued to challenge the Obama administration’s efforts to control the border.
Yet Trump has struggled badly in recent weeks to offer voters a consistent message, overshadowing formal policy speeches with a steady stream of self-created controversies, including a public feud with an American Muslim family whose son was killed while serving in the US military in Iraq.
“Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing”. He is heading to Louisiana on Friday, where floods have ravaged the state.
The governor spokesman says Trump was welcome but not for a “photo-op”. He wants him to volunteer or make a “sizable donation”.
In North Carolina, the Trump campaign will spend $838K, directed mostly at voters in Charlotte ($347K) and Raleigh ($220K).
Trump said this week he’s overhauling his campaign operation, bringing in a new chief executive and appointing a new campaign manager.
Yet the camera-ready campaign stop did little to obscure the turmoil in Trump’s campaign, punctuated early Friday when Trump announced that he’d accepted campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s offer to resign.
It concludes after 30 seconds by saying Trump’s plan to crack down on illegal immigration and halt some refugee programs is “change that makes America safe again”.
The last state in this first iteration of Trump’s broadcast TV advertising strategy is OH, where the campaign will spend $204K in Columbus and $195K in Cincinnati, with low six-digit buys in Dayton and Toledo.
The launch of Trump’s first television ad comes amid a solid lead in the polls for Clinton, who is now ahead by about six points, according to Real Clear Politics’ poll averages.
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A Real Clear Politics average of national polls shows Clinton holds a 5.5 percentage point lead in a four-way race among Trump, Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. His campaign rallies (and even empty lecterns anticipating one of his events) were routinely carried live and in full on cable TV.
