PRIORITIES USA FRIDAY HOT TAKES
PRIORITIES USA FRIDAY HOT TAKES: TRUMP’S RACISM IS DEPLORABLE — NEW PRIORITIES TV AD FEATURES REAGAN — DONALD’S PAY TO PLAY — ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL/DIGITAL ADS — “LEAST TRANSPARENT” IN HISTORY — AMERICA FOR SALE?
Hello and welcome to another edition of Priorities USA Friday Hot Takes. We weren’t sure what the opening was going to be about this week, but as always Donald Trump has done our work for us. Let us be perfectly clear here…Donald Trump does not get to decide whether or not President Obama is a citizen. The fact that his disgusting racism is now being used to promote the opening of his overpriced hotel is transparent and pathetic and you shouldn’t participate in it. In modern history neither party has ever nominated someone as dangerous and repulsive as Trump, and the fact that the top story in this race today is whether or not the GOP nominee believes the current President of the United States is a citizen would be a sad joke if it wasn’t real.
But it is real. Donald Trump is someone who attacks an African American pastor, has family and advisors who RT racist images, earns praise from his son for casting doubt on the birthplace of our first black president, and is responsible for furthering the environment that emboldens people to harass and demean a reporter simply because he’s Hispanic. Later on in Hot Takes we’ll get into Trump’s lack of transparency…but it’s the stuff we DO know about that’s most troubling. As the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent said this AM, “Donald Trump is a racist conspiracy theorist. Don’t let him lie his way out of it.” To the week that was…
NEW PRIORITIES TV AD FEATURES REAGAN. Politico’s Gabriel Debenedetti reports that Priorities “is using Republican icon Ronald Reagan against Donald Trump in its latest stinging battleground-state television ad, harshly portraying the GOP nominee as an inciter of violence rather than a uniter. The spot from Priorities USA Action, which contrasts the former president’s soaring rhetoric with clips of violence from Trump’s rallies, lands just hours after his latest campaign event, in North Carolina, was pocked by physical scuffles between protesters and supporters.” The truth is, Donald Trump’s divisive and destructive campaign regularly incites violence and divides the country he seeks to lead, and we’re going to continue holding him accountable. After all, the next president shouldn’t be someone who jokes about gun violence. (Is that really too much to ask?) You can watch “Then And Now” below:
Politico: Ronald Reagan plays a starring role in new anti-Trump ad
Miami Herald: Reagan at center of new Florida TV ad — for Clinton
The Hill: Pro-Clinton PAC ad features Reagan
Washington Examiner: Pro-Clinton super PAC ad featuring Reagan in battleground states
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC uses Reagan’s voice in anti-Trump ad
Politics PA: Dem Super PAC Uses Reagan to Criticize Trump (VIDEO)
DONALD’S PAY TO PLAY. By now, you all know that Donald Trump gave $25K to Florida AG Pam Bondi before she mysteriously decided not to investigate Trump University. Even Donald Trump himself admits he expects to curry favor with those he gives money to, yet claims he never spoke to Pam Bondi in this instance. Do you believe him? We don’t. That’s why we released a new web ad this week called “Donald’s Pay To Play” which you can watch below:
And while the focus is rightfully on Florida…
Philadelphia Inquirer: Inquirer Editorial: Donald Trump’s illegal campaign contribution shines a light on how he does business
Star Tribune: Trump crossed a line with donation to Florida AG
Tampa Bay Times: Clinton campaign ad accuses Trump of ‘pay to play’ with Bondi donation
Palm Beach Post: Editorial: Federal probe needed into Bondi, Trump donation
New York Times: New Records Shed Light on Donald Trump’s $25,000 Gift to Florida Official
AP: Trump signed improper charity check supporting Florida AG
…it seems this story is about to extend into Trump’s home state, with the New York attorney general opening an inquiry into the Trump Foundation.
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL/DIGITAL ADS? Priorities released a series of new digital ads this week, including as USA Today reports, a football themed ad that “focuses on another kind of football: the case containing nuclear launch codes that accompanies the president of the United States in the event he or she decides to order a strike.” If you were tweeting or Facebooking about college football last Saturday or Monday Night Football this week, you might have seen the below spot, that underscores just how dangerous it would be to trust Donald Trump with the nuclear football:
USA Today: Clinton PAC kicks off fall ‘football’ season
Las Vegas Review Journal: Group launches football-themed ad attacking Trump
You can also read in Mic.Com about some of our new ads aimed at millennial voters who should be “very afraid of President Donald Trump.”
“LEAST TRANSPARENT” IN HISTORY. As we stated earlier, everything we know about Donald Trump makes him dangerously unfit to be President of the United States. But what we don’t know about him is just as bad. So bad in fact that the Washington Post says Trump is “the least transparent U.S. presidential candidate in modern history.” When it comes to his health, his charity and charitable giving, his tax returns, what he did after 9/11, you name it…Donald Trump is hiding something. Maybe he’s afraid, maybe he’s embarrassed, but while we know more about Hillary Clinton than anyone who has run for president maybe ever, Donald Trump has made a mockery of typical presidential candidate transparency.
AMERICA FOR SALE? This week, Newsweek uncovered business dealings (in the form of international branding and licensing) between the Trump Organization and foreign entities including Russia, India, Turkey, and the Libyan dictator Muammer el-Qaddafi. The revelations of “an enterprise with deep ties to global financiers, foreign politicians, and even criminals” in which Trump deals runs counter to the national security interests of the United States are deeply troubling. “If Trump moves into the White House and his family continues to receive any benefit from the company, during or even after his presidency, almost every foreign policy decision he makes will raise serious conflicts of interest and ethical quagmires… The prospect of legal bribery by overseas powers seeking to influence American foreign policy, either through existing or future partnerships, will remain a reality throughout at Trump presidency.” All of this, coupled with his repeated praise of strongman Vladimir Putin and his penchant for promoting his business interests above all else, makes electing Trump a genuine threat to our national security, the piece ends by stating “Never before has an American candidate for president had so many financial ties with American allies and enemies, and never before has a business posed such a threat to the United States. If Donald Trump wins this election and his company is not immediately shut down or forever severed from the Trump family, the foreign policy of the United States of America could well be for sale.”
MINI-TAKES:
Politifact: Donald Trump’s Pants on Fire claim that Hillary Clinton ‘has no child care plan’ (Because she does)
CNN: Pastor interrupts Trump to stop him from attacking Clinton in church (Classy, Donald)
New York Times: The Arithmetic in Donald Trump’s Jobs Plan Doesn’t Really Work (You don’t say)
Politico: Trump Jr. acknowledges gas chamber remark as ‘poor choice of words, perhaps’ (Perhaps)
CNN: The small business owners Trump never paid in full (Nice.)
Reuters: Trump presidency could cost U.S. economy $1 trillion -Oxford Economics (That seems really bad)
MSNBC: Donald Trump’s child-care ‘plan’ is hard to take seriously (Of course it is)
Priorities Chief Strategist Guy Cecil on CNN’s At This Hour (Talking Trump’s racism!)
Priorities Communications Director Justin Barasky on the Bill Press Show 9/12/16 (Talking Priorities USA!)
Huffington Post: Donald Trump Boasted His Building Was Tallest After Towers Fell On 9/11 (Sigh)
TWEET OF THE WEEK: This week’s tweet of the week goes to Priorities own Chief Strategist Guy Cecil, who summed up how many of us feel about having to watch Donald Trump on TV all day, and those who defend him, when he said this:
Have a great weekend!
Justin Barasky
@JustinBarasky |
Courtney Rice
