Donald Trump’s presidential campaign unveiled a new attack ad targeting likely Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris as an ineffective, “dangerously liberal” leader who failed to secure the US-Mexico border.
The ad, which was released on Tuesday, slammed Harris, 59, for shirking her duty to reduce illegal migration from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
“This is America’s border czar, and she has failed us,” the 30-second clip opens, alongside footage of Harris dancing at a 2023 event celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
The ad borrows the slam used by Republican pundits to describe Harris’ role in overseeing efforts to quell the root causes of migration from from Central America.
The ad blitz insists that Harris is directly responsible for immigration-related concerns like fentanyl trafficking and violent crime by illegal migrants.
One of the overlaid news headlines also mentions the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was allegedly killed by a migrant while she was jogging in her college town in February.
The ad also suggests that Harris’ ineffectiveness stemmed at least in part from disinterest by including a brief excerpt of a June 2021 interview in which NBC News’ Lester Holt asked Harris why she had not visited the US-Mexico border in the first months of the Biden administration.
“And I haven’t been to Europe. I mean, I don’t understand the point that you are making,” Harris shot back.
The NBC interview took place the same month as Harris’ famous “Do not come” speech, in which she cautioned would-be migrants from Central America not to try to cross into the US.
The vice president’s warning, however, was followed by more than 6.3 million crossings — including over 1 million who snuck by police to enter the US, federal data said.
Harris visited the southern border for the first time as vice president a few weeks after the Holt interview — and worked to address some of the root drivers of immigration, including securing $5 billion in investments to bolster the El Salvadoran, Honduran and Guatemalan economies.
The attack ad ended by branding Harris “Failed. Weak. Dangerously liberal.”
The Harris campaign responded to the ad by slamming Trump for his role in the Republican Party’s decision to block the bipartisan border deal in February.
“After killing the toughest border deal in decades, Donald Trump is running on his trademark lies because his own record and ‘plans’ are extreme and unpopular,” campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said.
“As a former district attorney, attorney general, and now vice president, Kamala Harris has spent her career taking on and prosecuting violent criminals and making our communities safer. She’ll do the same as president,” they insisted.
The new ad recalled a similar spot put forward by the Republican National Convention in mid-July that reminded viewers that Biden had “help” flubbing the border crisis while Harris’ trademark laugh played in the background.
Trump’s television advertising is supported by the super PAC MAGA Inc., the Washington Post noted — though the group has been significantly outspent by the independent groups that supported Biden.
From March through July 29, the Biden-Harris camp had spent $138 million on ads alone, the outlet said, citing Ad Impact.
As conservatives continue to target Harris’ record at the border in the runup to the Democratic National Convention in August, several Democrats have jumped to the VP’s defense.
Under Harris’ leadership, according to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Hondurans encountered at the border dropped by 50%, while El Salvadoran arrivals plunged by 60% and Guatemalans dropped by 50%.
Harris’ campaign responded to Trump’s ad on Tuesday, launching their own clip – the first of the team’s $50 million ad flight before the DNC convention.
“After killing the toughest border deal in decades, Donald Trump is running on his trademark lies because his own record and ‘plans’ are extreme and unpopular,” Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said. “As a former district attorney, attorney general, and now vice president, Kamala Harris has spent her career taking on and prosecuting violent criminals and making our communities safer.”
“She’ll do the same as president,” Moussa added.
Harris’ Tuesday campaign ad leaned into the “fearless” line her team has been using to describe the vice president since her meteoric rise to becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee began last week.
“The one thing Kamala Harris has always been: fearless,” the ad begins.
“As a prosecutor, she put murderers and abusers behind bars. As California’s Attorney General, she went after the big banks and won $20 billion for homeowners. And as Vice President, she took on the big drug companies to cap the cost of insulin for seniors,” the narrator goes on.
Harris then says: “We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. Where every senior can retire with dignity.”
“But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward. To give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and end the Affordable Care Act.”