Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Is Donald Trump Really Hawking His Suit From the Debate With Joe Biden?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and checking out the latest dish from Vanity Fair, when I came across this item from the always entertaining Bess Levin detailing Donald Trump’s latest batch of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) glorifying himself.

Donald Trump is a serious contender for president who is absolutely not hard up for cash, and if the video he released on social media Tuesday morning makes you think otherwise, well, that’s on you . . .

Yes, that’s Trump, who is hoping to win the race for leader of the free world, telling his supporters about an exciting opportunity to purchase “Trump digital trading cards” that feature illustrations of the candidate with a halo above his head, wearing boxing gloves, praying (?) in front of another illustration of himself, holding a giant bitcoin, and more. Any single one can be yours for the low, low price of $99.

But wait! There’s more! “Not only will you receive a physical trading card (for every 15 digital cards purchased) but you’ll get ‘an authentic piece’ of the suit Trump wore for his debate with Joe Biden.”

Geez, Doc – is there anything about this guy that’s not for sale?

– Grift Rapped

Dear GR,

Of course you can eliminate “his soul” right off.  Beyond that, the latest batch of Trumpabilia is pimped in this video.

You really should watch the whole thing. It’s Trump at his carnival-barker best, the ultimate infomercial huckster.

One last tidbit from Levin’s piece: “Considering dropping $7,425 plus tax on 75 trading cards? If you do, you’ll be invited to join Trump ‘for a gala dinner’ at his club in Jupiter, Florida, which yes, sounds like a poor man’s Mar-a-Lago, but don’t dwell on it.”

The Doc’s diagnosis: We’re laying plenty of eight-to-five that if said gala dinner ever did happen, Trump would – at best – “join” it by video. More likely, though, it would feature  yet another NFT (No Frickin’ Trump).

You heard it here first.

Do Donald Trump’s Fundraising Emails Really Claim Biden Will Behead Him?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and working my way through Politico Playbook, when I came across this item about the latest scam from the Cheeto in Chief.

Donald Trump’s campaign is lying in fundraising emails to juice big bucks.

Isn’t this a dog-bites-dog story, Doc? Trump’s a pathological liar – what else is new?

– Chatter in Chief

Dear CiC,

Right – if Donald Trump’s mouth is moving or it’s a day ending in y etc. etc. But this particular grift does plow new ground, as Josh Dawsey and Isaac Arnsdorf report in the Washington Post.

The fundraising pitch from Donald Trump was neither accurate nor subtle.

It read: “1 MONTH UNTIL ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! THEY WANT TO SENTENCE ME TO DEATH.”

The message blasted out to his supporters was a reference to the former president’s sentencing scheduled for July 11, when he faces fines or possible jail time after being convicted on 34 charges of business fraud in connection with hush money paid to an adult-film star. A death sentence is not under consideration in the case. Neither is a “GUILLOTINE,” as another fundraising pitch suggested last week.

Regardless . . .

There’s no doubt Trump would die a little if New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan slammed the big door on him, but that’s highly unlikely to happen. Even more unlikely is Trump ever starring in a very special episode of The Celebrity Beheading.

Of course, that matters not at all to the ride-or-die MAGA mob, as WaPo’s Dawsey and Arnsdorf detailed.

Campaign finance records filed [June 20] showed the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and an allied super PAC raised $171 million in May. The surge left Trump and the RNC with more cash on hand than Biden and the Democratic National Committee, the reports showed.

The Doc’s diagnosis: Hang on tight. There’s no bottom to that well.

Will the Biden/Harris ‘Snapped’ Ad Really Make Donald Trump ‘Snap More’?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and tooling around Xitter, when I came across this post from corgi lover/Never Trumper/legal eagle George Conway.

That’s Adrienne Elrod, senior adviser and senior spokesperson for Joe Biden touting his latest swipe at the Cheeto in Chief, which “reminds voters of Trump’s presidency, which was just the beginning of Trump’s decline into the unhinged, power-hungry candidate he is today.”

Whaddaya think, Doc – is the Biden campaign on to something here?

– Snappy Comeback

Dear SC,

According to this piece by The Hill’s Alex Gangitano, Snapped “is part of the [Biden] campaign’s $14 million paid media buy for May and will run on general market television and digital platforms across battleground states, as well as on national cable television.”

De Niro: “From midnight tweets, to drinking bleach, to tear-gassing citizens and staging a photo-op, we knew Trump was out of control when he was president, and then he lost the 2020 election and snapped. Desperately trying to hold on to power. Now he’s running again, this time threatening to be a dictator, to terminate the Constitution . . . Trump wants revenge, and he’ll stop at nothing to get it.”

Nidia Cavazos of CBS News reports that the Biden campaign is also running this spot “slamming Trump on gun control 2 years after Uvalde shooting.”

The Doc’s diagnosis: George Conway is on to something. We’re likely see gun control before we see self control from Trump.

Did Joe Biden in His New Ad Just Make the Understatement of the Century?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and poking around the web, when I came across this headline at MSNBC’s site.

‘Trump doesn’t trust women; I do’: Biden ad hits Trump’s attacks on reproductive freedom

Really, Doc – that’s the best he’s got? Doesn’t trust women? That’s his indictment of the Grabber in Chief?

– Trusty Reader

Dear TR,

The TV spot was triggered by the state of Florida’s new six-week abortion ban, and according to this piece by Weija Jiang at CBS Mornings, “[Biden’s] campaign says it has a ‘seven-figure buy’ for this ad as part of a $30 million advertising effort in the major battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada.”

“In 2016, Donald Trump ran to overturn Roe v. Wade. Now, in 2024, he’s running to pass a national ban on a woman’s right to choose,” Biden says in the ad. He pointedly avoids mentioning either Florida’s new law or Trump’s stated opposition to a six-week abortion ban, letting viewers draw their own conclusions, accurate or not.

(Then again, Trump was America’s first Cubist President – on every side of every issue – so previous statements are no guarantee of future policy.)

The Doc’s diagnosis: There’s no question Biden’s assertion that “Trump doesn’t trust women” soft-pedals Trump’s reprehensible history of misogyny, misconduct, and more – see Mariel Padilla’s piece at The 19th for further details – but there are plenty of people out there excoriating Trump in far harsher terms (lookin’ at you, George Conway).

Over all, it’s sensible for Biden to leave the heavy lifting to others on this front.

Why Can’t Democrats Quit Canoodling With Trumpy GOP Candidates?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and reading Zachary Basu’s post at Axios Sneak Peek, when I came across this item about “Ohio’s strange bedfellows.”

Former President Trump and meddling Democrats are both scrambling to get their preferred Republican candidate — businessman Bernie Moreno — over the finish line in Tuesday’s Senate GOP primary in Ohio, Axios’ Stephen Neukam reports.

Why it matters: Democrats view Moreno as the weakest general election opponent for vulnerable Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Moreno is also the only Trump-backed Senate candidate at risk of losing in a GOP primary — a potentially embarrassing blow to the former president . . .

The intrigue: Duty and Country PAC, a group tied to Senate Democrats, is spending $2.5 million on a TV ad highlighting Moreno’s ties to Trump — seeking to boost him with the GOP’s conservative base.

What the hell, Doc – why do Democrats (lookin’ at you, Adam Schiff) keep pumping up Republican candidates they think will be easy pickings in a general election?

– GOPsmacked Voter

Dear GV,

As Democratic candidates and their allies keep demonstrating in political races nowadays, the only difference between an opponent and a proponent is a little pr.

The latest case in point: The new TV spot from Duty and Country PAC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chuck Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC. The latter group,  according to this piece by the Washington Post’s Michael Scherer, has reserved $239 million in ads to defend seats in seven states.

Duty and Country’s mash note to Bernie Moreno in the Ohio GOP Senate primary, meanwhile, is more ham-handed than a  Hormel worker. The video has been pulled from YouTube for some reason, but you can view the spot at AdMo. Here’s the transcript.

MAGA Republican Bernie Moreno is too conservative for Ohio. In Washington, Moreno would do Donald Trump’s bidding. That’s why Trump endorsed Moreno, calling him exactly the type of MAGA fighter that we need in the United States Senate. Moreno would lead the charge to enact Trump’s MAGA agenda to repeal Obamacare and institute a national ban on abortion. Donald Trump needs Bernie Marino. Ohio doesn’t. Duty and Country is responsible for the content of this ad.

Of course, such bank-shot campaigns don’t always pay off. In the 2022 election cycle, according to this NPR piece by Bill Chappell, “not all of the far-right candidates supported by Democratic groups won their primary races — in fact, far from it. In September, an analysis by The Washington Post found that seven of 13 Democrat-backed Republican candidates lost their primaries after having more than a combined $12 million spent on their behalf.”

One campaign that might have worked too well, on the other hand, is Adam Schiff’s $11 million wet kiss to former pro baseball player Steve Garvey, the Republican candidate in California’s U.S. Senate primary. As Katy Grimes reports in California Globe, Garvey was leading Schiff in the jungle primary by 254,667 votes as of yesterday afternoon.

Live and let learn, that’s the Doc’s slogan.

Will Any Voters Really Care About Biden’s Ad Attacking Trump’s NATO Attack?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and reading Jim Swift’s Overtime post at The Bulwark, when I came across this item.

Happy Friday! The Biden campaign hit Donald Trump with a new ad about NATO. It’s a little wonky, but still, compelling.

Really, Doc? Trump’s trashing of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is going to put a dent in his poll numbers when 91 felony charges, a sexual assault conviction, and an endless series of lies and grifts haven’t? Does that seem reasonable to you?

– Trump Stumped

Dear TS,

According to this New York Times report by Nicholas Nehamas, the Biden campaign “is running [this] digital ad in three states — Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — that have significant populations of voters with Eastern European roots.”

The ad notes that every president since Harry Truman has been a rock-solid supporter of NATO – except for Donald Trump, who wants to walk away from NATO and its Article 5 mutual defense pact. (The spot also notes that Article 5 has been invoked exactly one time: in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on America.)

Trump’s “you gotta pay” message to NATO members, the ad concludes, is shameful, weak, dangerous, and un-American. (It’s also the unofficial slogan of made mobsters, but why get technical about it. Not to mention Trump’s lifelong commitment to stiffing his own creditors.)

As NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba writes, “[the] campaign is aiming to reach the more than 2.5 million Americans who identify as Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian — all NATO countries that share a border with Russia.”

That doesn’t seem like much, until you break down Trump’s likely electoral math: About 30 to 35 percent of his voters are ride-or-die MAGA who are largely there for the cruelty and the crazy; then you’ve got maybe 10 percent of voters who mumble “something something something Dementia Joe.”

It’s the next four or five percent who will decide the 2024 presidential election.  This Biden ad might tell us whether Article 5 works for  ballots as well as bullets.

Are Nikki Haley’s Grumpy Old Men Ads Really ‘An Example of Ageism’?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and checking out BU Today, when I came across Doug Most’s Q&A with Boston University School of Social Work professor Bronwyn Keefe about Nikki Haley’s new ad campaign mocking Joe Biden and Donald Trump as “Basement Buddies” and “Stumbling Seniors.”

BU Today: When I saw this ad, I admit that I chuckled, but at the same time I cringed a little bit. Is this going too far in your mind? Is the ad an example of ageism?

Ageism is just pervasive. When you go to CVS or someplace to get a birthday card, it’s everywhere, jokes about being older, not being able to hear—it’s so normalized . . . This makes older people feel invisible, small, and useless. It has an impact on the older adult population that is really detrimental.

Isn’t that the point of Haley’s campaign, Doc – to be detrimental to the presumptive 2024 presidential nominees?

– Bidin’ My Time

Dear BMT,

Let’s start by reminding ourselves that Nikki Haley is no stranger to the issue of ageism, having been on the receiving end last year of sexist/ageist comments from ex-CNN bigmouth Don Lemon, who declared in an on-air flameout (leading to his exit from the cable network) that Haley was past her prime.

Haley tweeted in response, “Liberals can’t stand the idea of having competency tests for older politicians to make sure they can do the job.”

So Haley’s new media  campaign – which consists of online videos, digital ads and voter emails according to Jazmine Ulloa’s report in the New York Times – is very much on brand.

As for the issue of ageism, it’s not like Haley is trying to take the car keys from Gramps. One of those two guys is going to occupy the Oval Office a year from now. Their age and mental competency are legitimate questions.

But that’s not the most important concern for voters this November.  The real issue, which Haley’s campaign blithely glosses over, is that both guys might be old, but only one of them is an unhinged anti-democratic grifter. We’re not talking six of one, half dozen of another here, folks. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are not a matched set, no matter what Nikki Haley or Cornel West or the No Labelsniks want you to think

Not to get all grumpy about it or anything.

Shouldn’t Joe Biden’s Campaign Just Set His Advertising Dollars on Fire?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and checking out Politico Playbook, when I came across this item about Joe Biden’s campaign jumping on “[a] recent Suffolk University/USA Today poll [which] found that 59% of voters agreed that prosecuting the [January 6] rioters was ‘the appropriate work of the justice system.’” 

These public perceptions, of course, create a major opening for Biden. And, as we’ve written several times now in Playbook, the president continues to lean in. During his speech yesterday at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Biden cast his own reelection — and Trump’s defeat —as imperative to protecting democracy.

“Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time. It is what the 2024 election is all about,” Biden said, a message that’s front and center in a new campaign ad that will start airing today in seven swing states.

Is pearl-clutching about threats to democracy really a threat to Donald Trump’s 2024 prospects, Doc? Or is Scranton Joe just whistling past the graveyard?

– Biden My Time

Dear BMT,

First of all, don’t say “graveyard” in the same sentence as Joe Biden. Beyond that, the Doc has previously noted that there are serious questions about the efficacy of presidential TV advertising (even if they’re raised by GOP chew toy Vivek Ramaswamy).

Regardless, Biden has so far failed to develop an effective advertising message. As New York Times reporter Reed Epstein detailed on The Daily podcast, his campaign recently spent $40 million on swing-state ads promoting Biden’s economic record – to little or no avail.

Epstein also pointed out that another potential ad theme – Trump’s 91 felony charges – is largely off limits. Biden can’t/won’t talk about the four separate Trump indictments because that just plays into Trump’s claim that the Department of Justice is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Biden Crime Family.

So what’s a fella to do? This, apparently.

Those people are nuts graf: “I’ve made the preservation of American democracy an essential issue of my presidency. Now, something dangerous is happening in America. There’s an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy.”

The ad, which is paid for by the Democratic National Committee, is not getting a lot of love on YouTube: 97,000 views but only 2700 thumbs up. Not to mention lots of comments like these.

As Epstein noted on The Daily, voters concerned about threats to democracy are likely already in the anti-Trump camp, so Biden might just be whistling past the . . . voting booth with that approach.

The Doc is not in the habit of prescribing remedies for ailing political campaigns. But in this case, Joe Biden might want to forget surrogates like the oily Gavin Newsom and get himself a witch doctor to generate some good juju.

Just sayin’.

Is Presidential TV Ad Spending Really Idiotic, Like Vivek Ramaswamy Says?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and poking around Xitter, when I came across this post on David Axelrod’s feed addressing the latest nonsense from Vivek Ramasmarmy – sorry, Ramaswamy.

Two questions for you, Doc – is presidential TV ad spending more idiotic than Vivek Ramaswamy? Or is it vice versa?

– On the Spot

Dear OtS,

This one looks like a photo finish, yeah?

Let’s start with Vivek Ramaswamy’s X-clusion of TV spots from his primary campaign.

Given that Ramaswamy spent $200,000 on TV ads during the first half of December, as NPR’s Ashley Lopez reported, presumably he’s had some kind of IQ boost in the past few weeks. Regardless, his campaign told NPR it hasn’t entirely stopped spending on ads.

“Our spending levels haven’t changed—we’re just following the data,” said campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. “We are focused on bringing out the voters we’ve identified—best way to reach them is using addressable advertising, mail, text, live calls and doors to communicate with our voters on Vivek’s vision for America, making their plan to caucus and turning them out.”

Yeah – that and going to six Iowa Pizza Ranches in one day might actually get you within 40 points of Donald Trump. Or maybe not, considering that some – like the New Republic’s Jason Linkins – think you might not even make it to caucus night.

As for how idiotic presidential TV ad spending in general might be, it certainly hasn’t paid off for the super PACs that have dropped tens of millions of dollars touting presidential primary hopefuls, as The Bulwark’s Tim Miller has painstakingly documented.

The Super PACs Are Worthless. Donors Should Stop Torching Their Cash.

SUPER PACS FOR SEVERAL GOP CANDIDATES challenging Donald Trump have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to help fund efforts to displace him as the party’s nominee—and they have absolutely nothing to show for it.

No progress. No signs of life. No movement. Nada.

The impotence of the super PAC efforts is an all-the-more-inviting target for ridicule when you consider that this entire strategic approach was discredited in the 2016 and 2020 presidential races. (I can speak from firsthand Jeb! experience about the law of diminishing returns on super PAC dollars.)

Case in point: The pro-DeSantis super PAC Nevar Back Down, whose $25 million worth of ads have gone over like the metric system, rocketing the Florida governor from over 30% in the national polls to 11.7% in ten short months.

So yeah, some presidential ad spending is in fact idiotic. But that doesn’t make Vivek Ramaswamy any smarter.

Aren’t the Chris Christie Super PAC Ads Actually Telling It Like It Isn’t?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and poking around Politico, when I came across Alex Isenstadt’s piece about Chris Christie kneecapping Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire presidential primary.

Chris Christie has singularly devoted his presidential campaign to tearing down Donald Trump.

But with the start of the primaries just a few weeks away, some top Republicans in New Hampshire say Christie is now positioned to help pave the way for Trump’s nomination by siphoning votes away from Nikki Haley, Trump’s closest-polling competitor in the state.

“Chris Christie is a monumental problem for Nikki Haley,” said Mike Dennehy, a former Republican National committeeman from New Hampshire who is neutral in the race. “They are both currently splitting the Independent vote, and Haley desperately needs those votes if she is to have a chance of knocking off Trump in New Hampshire.”

Drive Haley nuts graf: “Christie advisers said no one has asked the candidate to drop out. And there is no indication he is slowing down either. Tell It Like It Is PAC, a pro-Christie outside group, is running a $3.5 million TV advertising campaign in New Hampshire.”

Three and a half million to prop up a candidate the majority of Republican primary voters totally hate? They’d do better setting their money on fire and posting the video to YouTube. That would probably have a more lasting impact, don’t you think, Doc?

– Fired Up

Dear FU,

Chris Christie is the guest who’s really fun and entertaining until he refuses to leave the dinner party when the clock strikes midnight. Instead, he just keeps banging on about himself, as this press release from the pro-Christie PAC indicates.

With the New Hampshire primary less than six weeks away, and on the heels of a winning debate performance, Tell It Like It Is PAC launched its largest paid media campaign of the cycle in New Hampshire: $3.5 million dollars across broadcast, cable, statewide digital and radio.

Entitled “Unacceptable,” the :30 second spot . . . focuses on not only core policy issues important to New Hampshire voters (inflation and immigration), but also reminds voters of the bold distinction between Governor Christie and the other candidates in the race: the willingness to tell the truth about former President Donald Trump.

Here’s the spot.

Christie might in fact be “the only candidate with the courage to tell the truth and the experience to get it done,” but whatever “it” is most certainly does not include winning New Hampshire, never mind the GOP presidential nomination.

Not with numbers like these (via FiveThirtyEight) in this month’s poll from Saint Anselm College Survey Center . . .

. . . or these from American Research Group (which gets a C+ rating at FiveThirtyEight).

Roll your own from those polls. As for actually telling it like it is, listen to The Bulwark’s publisher Sarah Longwell on The Focus Group Podcast (around 18:19).

When the New York Times called me recently for a story and it was like, lots of people are saying Christie should drop out and like, why don’t you think he is or whatever. And I was like, I got I got all mad and I was like, because time is a flat circle. And everybody insists on playing out the 2016 primary beat for beat exactly like it was back then. And Chris Christie needs to drop out instead of doing what he did to Marco Rubio . . .

He’s just hurting Nikki now. Anything he does, it’s not helping her. I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing. It’s time. It’s time, buddy. Good job. I appreciate what you’ve done, but you’ve got to show now that it is more than your ego at work here and you are ready to actually be helpful to some of these other candidates.

Question is, does Chris Christie have the courage to get that done? Or will he just keep telling it like it isn’t.