President Trump is warning seniors their lives would be jeopardized with Joe Biden in the White House, claiming in a vivid campaign advertisement that criminals would commit home invasions with impunity because the presumptive Democratic nominee supports “defunding” the police.
The television spot, now airing nationally and in key battleground states, opens with an elderly white woman watching Fox News as host Sean Hannity accuses Biden of supporting liberal efforts to slash taxpayer funding for local law enforcement. She then hears a noise at the door, and the camera shifts to a man dressed in black breaking in. The visibly terrified woman dials 911, only to hear a recording apologizing that “there is no one here to answer your emergency call” as the home invader physically attacks her.
“Joe Biden has clearly stated that he would ‘Yes! Absolutely!’ redirect funding away from police to other budget areas. This is cutting, or defunding, the police by any definition,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.
Biden claims he opposes defunding the police or otherwise significantly reducing their funding. In a tweet posted on Tuesday, Biden spokesman Andrew Bates flagged a CNN report that explained the former vice president’s position this way: He “has repeatedly and explicitly opposed the idea of ‘defunding the police,’ and he has proposed a $300 million increase in federal funding for community policing. … Trump has himself proposed cuts to federal funding for community policing.”
However, in interviews, Biden has suggested support for taking funds from local law enforcement, with the money funneled to social programs to enable other government agencies to share in the responsibility for public safety. The Trump campaign argues that this amounts to support for defunding the police.
The Trump campaign is in the middle of a major summer advertising buy across several critical states.
The president is fighting to come from behind against Biden, who has built a sizable lead nationally and substantial advantage in key battlegrounds. This new ad, titled “Break In,” is the latest in a series seeking to puncture the growing support for Biden, who has been performing well in public opinion polls with seniors, high-propensity voters who often support Republicans.
The advertisement recalls a spot run by a Democratic group in 2011 that criticized former House Speaker Paul Ryan, then a rising Wisconsin Republican congressman, for proposing to overhaul Medicare. In the ad, an actor representing Ryan pushes a smiling elderly woman in a wheelchair up a bucolic hill before throwing her off of a cliff as she tries to resist.
