The Joe Biden campaign is pushing ahead with a major swing-state ad blitz addressing the rioting that’s gripped many U.S. cities head-on and blaming President Trump for the violence, casting the Democratic nominee as a calming force who will “lower the temperature” of the national discourse.
The ad is titled “Be Not Afraid,” a quote from Pope John Paul II, and is adapted from a speech Biden gave Monday in Pittsburgh. It will air on major cable news networks as well as stations in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
“Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. It’s lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted,” Biden says as stark images of burnt-out cars and buildings flash on the screen. “Fires are burning and we have a president who fans the flames. He can’t stop the violence because for years he’s fomented it.”
The Biden campaign said the ad is part of a $45 million broadcast and digital ad buy just this week — a staggering sum of money for even a presidential campaign to drop. It comes as the Biden campaign has begun to emphasize its condemnations of rioting and violence in recent days after Republicans have hammered the message for weeks and harshly criticized the Biden campaign for the lack of attention paid to the unrest at the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
Trump allies have challenged the sincerity of the tone change by the Biden campaign. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign has noted that the nominee has condemned the violence on several occasions throughout the summer, even to the point of backlash from some on the left. – READ MORE
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