Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign will remove a portion of an ad that features a retired general after he objected to being included in it.
Retired Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, who led the fight against the Islamic State, was featured in a recent ad for the Democratic presidential nominee in which the promo touts Biden’s role in keeping troops safe overseas, according to Politico.
“I’m not a political person, but this isn’t about just me. I object to the use of ANY military personnel in uniform in political ads – full stop,” he said in a now-deleted post on LinkedIn.
“In accordance with Lieutenant General MacFarland’s wishes we’re in the process of removing his image from this ad,” Michael Gwin, the deputy rapid response director at Biden for President, explained. “Donald Trump, in sharp contrast, has shown himself happy to use our armed forces as a political prop and trample over the fundamental line between politics and our military to the extent that he’s been publicly rebuked by leading current and retired generals and by his own defense secretary.”
The military doesn’t allow uniformed service members to participate in political campaigns. But troops in uniform did appear in the Biden ad with a disclaimer that said, “The use of U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) visual information does not imply or constitute endorsement of the U.S. military, any military personnel or the Department of Defense.”
The Biden campaign initially said that the disclaimer, in conjunction with his name being blurred out on his uniform, made the ad legal, despite his objections.
“Nobody asked permission to use my image. My request to remove it was denied,” MacFarland said. “Let’s keep the military out of politics and vice versa. I think our country will be better off if we do.”
Trump’s campaign has also used military brass in campaign ads.
