Harris ad uses ex-Trump officials to claim GOP nominee is unfit to serve
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Republican presidential candidate former President Trump in Waunakee, Wisconsin, this week. Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
A new Harris campaign ad says former President Trump is "not fit" to serve as commander-in-chief as it uses his own former top officials to support its case.
The big picture: The ad, titled "Unstable Threat," which launched Thursday and is airing across battleground states, seeks to paint Trump's presidency as chaotic at a time when national security is in the spotlight, according to a senior official with Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign.
- It's a chance to remind voters of what they hated or feared most about the Trump era, per the official.
State of play: The ad that features former Vice President Mike Pence saying he "cannot in good conscience" endorse Trump in 2024 is running on broadcast and cable to reach persuadable voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
- A version of the Harris campaign's first major national security-focused ad ran on Fox News around last month's presidential debate, but the official said it's been updated for this multi-million dollar campaign.
- The new ad also features Trump White House Defense Secretary Mark Esper and national security adviser John Bolton criticizing the Republican presidential nominee and retired Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley saying that military members "don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator."
- The goal is to have voters ask who they'd rather have in times of crisis: a trusted, steady leader on the world stage like Harris or Trump, whose own advisers wouldn't trust him to serve, according to the official.
Driving the news: The official said Trump had tried to rewrite history on his presidency and pointed to his conducting foreign policy by tweet and acting warmly toward Russian leader Vladimir Putin, among other incidents.
- The largest ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces abroad also occurred during Trump's administration, when more than 100 U.S. troops sustained brain injuries in an Iranian attack on a base in Iraq in January 2020.
- The official cited Trump this week referring to the injuries suffered by those troops as "headaches" as proof that he hasn't changed.
Zoom in: The Harris campaign found that focus groups with undecided battleground voters during this week's vice presidential debate rated the biggest moment of the first 15 minutes was Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz talking about Trump's fickleness versus Harris' steady leadership.
- Focus groups also responded well when Harris suggested voters "turn the page" on Trump's dark and divisive world view, per the campaign official.
Zoom out: Since the presidential debate, more than 700 national security officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations have endorsed Harris.
- The Trump campaign responded at the time by saying the GOP nominee "is the only President in the modern era not to get our country into any new wars" and that those who endorsed Harris "are the same people who got our country into endless foreign wars."
Go deeper: Trump and Harris go all-in to make Pennsylvania the new Florida
