Republican Anti-Trump Super PAC Our Principles, which was formed by veterans of the Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush campaigns, launched a new attack ad against the GOP frontrunner, using his own quotes about women against him.
“Bimbo” begins a woman at the beginning of an ad, followed by a second woman adding “Dog” and a third contributing “Fat pig.” Another woman introduces the theme of the ad: “Real Donald Trump quotes about women.” The remainder of the ad plays out like a misogynist greatest hits compilation from the GOP frontrunner/textbook narcissist. You may recognize such lines as “There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her…wherever” (referring to Fox’s Megyn Kelly) and “That must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees.” One of the quotes, “Women, you have to treat them like shit,” even gets the bleep treatment. In each case, the spot provides the source of the quote, should viewers choose to follow up on the ad. We’re guessing not too many viewers who bother to fact check political ads are voting for Trump in the first place, however, which raises the question of who exactly the ad is targeting. Because at this point, it’s hard to imagine someone watching who hasn’t heard at least one of these misogynist quotes from the orange-faced King of Combovers.
The timing of the ad, on the other hand, is easy to understand, as today’s primaries in states including the winner-take-all Florida, could provide Donald Trump with an insurmountable delegate lead. But the other problem is the source of the attacks. A Democratic candidate could make an argument against Trump’s misogyny in good faith, but this ad comes from a Super PAC backed by Republicans, a party which seems to have a mandate against women’s rights. While Trump’s primary opponents may not have said anything quite as outlandish as the lines spoken in the ad, they certainly have voted against women, with Ted Cruz in particular taking a hard stance against women’s reproductive rights and John Kasich, arguably the most moderate Republican candidate on many issues, having signed 16 anti-abortion measures into law since 2011 as governor of Ohio, including a 2013 law mandating that women seeking an abortion are forced to undergo an ultrasound. Considering the source of the ad, which includes veterans of Romney’s presidential bid (which included a much-publicized gaffe about women of its own), it can’t help but come across as hypocritical, or at the very least disingenuous. Of course, the source of the ad is hidden behind the name of a Super PAC, leaving the vast majority of viewers in the dark. Still, the best the ad can hope to accomplish, since Trump’s supporters aren’t likely to jump ship over the attack, is motivate those already against him to go out and vote. But for who?