September 6, 2016

Pro-Clinton Group Goes Nuclear on Donald Trump

A new ad, reminiscent of the 1964 “daisy” ad, says Trump can’t be trusted with nuclear weapons.

Carlos Tischler/ZUMA

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At almost exactly this point in the 1964 presidential election, Lyndon Johnson shook up the race against Barry Goldwater with his controversial “daisy” ad implying that Goldwater couldn’t be trusted with national security in a nuclear world. Fifty-two years later, a pro-Hillary Clinton super-PAC is reprising that theme, releasing a new ad suggesting that Donald Trump would lead the country into nuclear war.

According to NBC, the ad is set to run in the swing states of Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, and Ohio. Priorities USA, the super-PAC that created the ad, is investing $5 million in airing the TV spot. 

The commercial opens with Trump saying, “I’m really good at war, I love war,” and transitions into footage of nuclear explosions as Trump talks about his willingness to use nuclear weapons. It’s far more explicit than the daisy ad, which never actually mentioned Goldwater but was pulled from the air after just one broadcast, on September 7, 1964, amid controversy. In the escalated campaign rhetoric of this race, though, the new anti-Trump ad is unlikely to attract the same kind of notice.

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