'Unfit, unwell, unacceptable': Anti-Trump Republicans turn president's disastrous disinfectant cure comments into scathing attack ad

Ad targets Operation Gridlock protesters who fight 'only for themselves, their interests, their desires'

Alex Woodward
New York
Saturday 25 April 2020 21:55 BST
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Anti-Trump ad titled 'Donald Trump: Unfit. Unwell. Unacceptable' released by Republicans for the Rule of Law

Two Republican groups challenging Donald Trump's re-election have released minute-long attack ads attacking the president's response to the coronavirus after he dangerously suggested Americans ingest potentially deadly disinfectants to combat the virus.

One ad also criticises Americans who are protesting stay-at-home orders with "words of selfish entitlement" as the US death toll climbs above 50,000.

A video from Republicans for the Rule of Law titled "Unfit. Unwell. Unreasonable" cuts together unedited footage from the president's Thursday press briefing in which he suggested that using ultraviolet light exposure and injecting disinfectants, which can be lethal, could combat Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Before running the clips, the video says: "50,000 people have died. This is our president."

The Lincoln Project, another Republican group that includes the husband of the president's longtime adviser, released a video highlighting the "two Americas" that have "emerged from this pandemic" by contrasting frontline and essential workers and people who are obeying quarantine measures with the president and people protesting orders to stay home during the public health crisis.

In a video from a group that includes George Conway, who is married to Mr Trump's adviser Kellyanne Conway, the group contrasts "those who sacrifice and those who demand" and people who are "working tirelessly to save Americans lives" with people who "protest, threaten [and] scream with words of selfish entitlement".

"They fight but only for themselves, their interests, their desires, putting their wants ahead of what's right", the video says. "We already know which type of American Trump is. The important question is, which one are you?"

The ad targets right-wing Operation Gridlock protests, which have been supported by the president, that demand several state governments to "reopen" businesses amid the pandemic.

In recent months, the groups have released several ads targeting the president and his administration as well as other prominent Republicans.

The Lincoln Project also released a video this week endorsing Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge the president in November, in an ad titled "Ready".

Calling the former vice president a "a bipartisan leader who puts good ideas ahead of party politics" and "the man for this moment", the video says that "not every American will agree with Joe Biden on every issue, but they know he'll unify this nation again" and will see "Americans" over party politics.

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