Update, 12:25 p.m.: The Democratic National Committee has released an official response to Trump's ad. "GOP frontrunner Donald Trump's offensive ad is the latest Republican demonstration of xenophobia and fear mongering. His proposals represent Republican Party values that would only serve to make America less safe," DNC National Press Secretary Mark Paustenbach said in a statement provided to Refinery29. Paustenbach also noted that other GOP presidential candidates, including Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie, have also supported discriminatory practices.
This post was originally published on January 4, 2016.
Donald Trump has been the subject of a lot of bad press in recent weeks. The 2016 GOP presidential hopeful proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States, and he's received a lot of well-deserved backlash.
Instead of trying to divert the media's attention to more positive aspects of his campaign, Trump's first TV ad tackles his statements head-on. And he's not backing away from them.
The ad claims that Trump's proposed ban on Muslims would prevent "radical Islamic terrorism" in the United States. And, it says, Trump will "cut the head off of ISIS" if he's elected president. (Because ISIS beheads people, get it?)
And to top it all off, the ad mentions Trump's proposal to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border — funded by Mexico. Rather than straying away from his most controversial statements, Trump's ad celebrates them.
Many people have been quick to criticize the new campaign spot. Greg Sargent of The Washington Post compared the ad to a '90s spot by California Governor Pete Wilson, who supported measures to ban illegal immigrants from access to state services. Trump's ad portrays immigrants as invaders (see the dark masses featured in the video), as did one of Wilson's ads in 1994.
Check out Trump's campaign ad in all its wildly offensive glory, below. It will air in Iowa and New Hampshire starting Tuesday.
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