DNC up with first Nevada ad targeting Trump over coronavirus response
The Democratic National Committee is going up on air in Nevada for the first time this election cycle on Wednesday with an ad focusing on President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 30-second ad, called “Red Handed,” contrasts statements the president has made about the severity of the pandemic, saying in August on Fox News that “children are almost immune” to the virus when he had told the journalist Bob Woodard in February that the virus is “deadly stuff” and was affecting “not just old, plenty of young people.” The ad also cites the rising coronavirus death toll, which has claimed the lives of more than 190,000 Americans.
“You took an oath to protect our citizens. Mr. President, these deaths are on your hands,” the ad says. “It’s time to put America back in the hands of a president who will protect the country and tell us the truth.”
The ad comes as Trump has been under fire from Gov. Steve Sisolak and state health officials for holding two rallies in Minden and Henderson this weekend attended by thousands of his supporters in violation of the state’s 50-person limit on public gatherings amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Few attendees wore masks at either event.
During one of those rallies, Trump suggested that if his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, had been in charge of the U.S. coronavirus response “hundreds of thousands of more Americans would have died,” though it is not clear how he arrived at that specific figure.
“We launched the largest national mobilization since World War II, you know that, especially with ventilator and equipment and masks, shields,” Trump said. “We’re delivering life-saving therapies that have achieved among the lowest case fatality rates of any major country in the world.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. does rank fairly low for its case-fatality ratio — the number of deaths per confirmed cases — though it does have one of the highest death tolls per capita. The case-fatality ratio in the U.S. is 3 percent, ranking 51st among nations, but it has seen 59.5 deaths per 100,000 residents, coming in at 11th.
The ad is part of a six-figure buy from the Democratic National Committee and will air on cable in Las Vegas. It is the 11th ad released by the DNC since June.
Watch the ad below: