Donald Trump’s first television advertisement slams Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, warning that Clinton’s policies on immigration and national security would endanger American lives.
Advertisement
“In Hillary Clinton’s America, the system stays rigged against Americans”, a narrator says over ominous music and a darkly lit montage of refugee camps and police apprehending border crossers. 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”.
After an appearance in OH on Wednesday, the top headline the next day in The Plain Dealer in Cleveland read, “Clinton Tears Trump Plan to Cut Estate Tax”, while The New York Times’ main campaign story focused on the tumult in the Trump campaign. “Terrorists and unsafe criminals kept out, the border secure, our families safe. The border: secure. Our families: safe”, the spot says.
Trump’s ad buys total nearly $5 million and will run for 10 days in the swing states of Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
Trump’s main focus is on Florida, where the billionaire spent $1.4 million in airtime across six media markets.
A statement released by the campaign said the ad presents a sharp contrast between the two candidates on the volatile issue.
Clinton had pulled away significantly from Trump following the two parties’ national conventions last month, during which the candidates formally accepted the nomination to run for president.
But while Hillary Clinton has held on to most of Barack Obama’s coalition of voters from 2012, she hasn’t built on it.
The state’s Democratic governor said he welcomed Trump to the state, but not for a “photo op”. And as a new Pew Center survey of their supporters shows, they are appealing to equally contrasting notions of the nation’s current state, and where it is likely to go.
“The only thing I can come up with is they have to be not telling the truth on that”, said Cheryl Hughes, a 55-year-old self-employed news junkie. The “regret” remarks and different tone from Trump certainly have the hallmarks of Republican pollster KellyAnne Conway, installed as his campaign manager earlier this week.
Advertisement
The goal for the Trump campaign’s leaders is not to tame the candidate’s passion, according to Trump’s allies, but refocus his attacks on Clinton. Trump began with a visit to flood-wreaked Louisiana and ended with a measured, but pointed rally in MI.
