Four misleading quotes in Trump’s misleading new TV ad
3 mins read

Four misleading quotes in Trump’s misleading new TV ad

On Friday we have published an article about how former President Donald Trump’s campaign has made a habit of fraudulently using quotes in television ads attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.

Then, just days later, the campaign released perhaps the most terrifying example yet.

A new minute-long ad resurrects two of the quote distortions from previous Trump ads — and sprinkles in two more for good measure. Here’s a fact check.

Cut out key words about Harris and taxes

The new ad cuts critical words from a news article about Harris’ tax proposal.

the ad, like a previous Trump adcontains the following text on the screen attributed to an August article in The New York Times: “Harris is trying to raise taxes significantly.” But as the Times itself has notedthis is a misleading clip. What that The Times article actually said was this: “Harris is trying to raise taxes significantly on the wealthiest Americans and big corporations.”

That’s a big difference.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this article. For the Friday article about the campaign’s misleading use of quotes, the campaign declined to address any of the specific examples we raised; instead, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, “President Trump has the hardest-hitting, most well-produced ads in the business.”

Cuts out a key word about Harris and the border

The new ad also removes a crucial word from a news article about immigration policy.

The ad includes the following on-screen text that the ad attributes to a September CBS News article: “Harris vows to hold Biden’s border.” The text is accompanied by a narrator who says: falsethat “Kamala was responsible for his policy of open borders.”

But what the CBS News article’s headline actually said was this: “Harris vows to keep Biden’s border strike: “The United States is a sovereign nation.” The article began: “During a visit to the US-Mexico border on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris promised to deliver President Biden’s crackdown on asylum in place if elected, cementing Democrats’ adoption of stricter immigration rules.”

Taking an immigration quote out of context

The ad includes on-screen text that says “welfare for illegals,” attributing those words to a 2018 NBC News article.

But like us noted when a previous Trump ad featured similar text on the screen, it NBC News article didn’t even mention Biden or Harris, whose administration doesn’t begin until 2021. And the article used the phrase “welfare for illegal immigrants” only in passing — in a completely different context than the Trump ad uses it.

The article criticized occupational licensing rules that hindered immigrants enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. from working in certain jobs. It said: “It is a complete travesty that otherwise qualified individuals cannot obtain government permission to cut hair. Regardless of one’s position on welfare for illegal immigrantsa license is clearly distinct from food stamps and other government safety nets.”

Taking a quote about national security out of context

The new ad features giant on-screen text with the words “global war,” attributing to them a July article by media outlet Axios, in which the ad’s narrator says, “Their weakness invited war.”

But Axios article did not claim that there is “global war” under the Biden administration. The article was headlined “US Not Ready for Global War, Commission Warns”; it was about the findings of a bipartisan commission on the country’s preparedness for hypothetical future conflicts, not about the current situation.

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