A new ad shared by President Trump that links Democrats to a twice-deported illegal immigrant who murdered two California sheriff’s deputies is being derided as racist and “sickening,” and some critics are likening it to the 1988 “Willie Horton” ad run by candidate George H.W. Bush.
The ad, which currently has top billing on the president’s Twitter page, opens with a shot of Luis Bracamontes, a Mexican immigrant who is smiling and bragging that he “killed fucking cops.”
Superimposed over the video footage of Bracamontes in court are the words “Illegal immigrant, Luis Bracamontes, killed our people!”
“Democrats let him into our country,” the spot claimed. “Democrats let him stay.”
Bracamontes was sentenced to death in April for killing two California sheriff’s deputies in 2014.
“I’m going to kill more cops soon,” he says in TV footage included in the ad. As of Thursday morning, the spot has been viewed more than 2.6 million times.
“It is outrageous what Democrats are doing to our country. Vote Republican now!” Trump said in a tweet Wednesday sharing the ad.
It is outrageous what the Democrats are doing to our Country. Vote Republican now! https://t.co/0pWiwCHGbh pic.twitter.com/2crea9HF7G
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2018
In the hours after Trump posted the campaign ad, it drew sharp rebukes from Democrats and Republicans alike who believe it’s divisive and racist.
“You are a despicable divider; the worst social poison to afflict our country in decades. This ad, and your full approval of it, will condemn you and your bigoted legacy forever in the annals of America’s history books,” Al Cardenas, former chairman of the American Conservative Union and former head of the Republican Party of Florida, tweeted Thursday.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., called the spot a “new low in campaigning” and said it’s “sickening,” according to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said the ad is “fear mongering.”
“This is distracting, divisive Donald at his worst,” Perez told CNN on Wednesday.
Others are drawing comparisons between the ad promoted by Trump and the 1988 “Willie Horton” ad, which was run by a political action committee during George H.W. Bush’s presidential campaign.
Horton, a convicted murderer, fled during Massachusetts’ weekend furlough program, which was backed by Michael Dukakis, the Democratic presidential nominee. He then raped a woman and stabbed her fiance.
“This may be the most desperate and vile ad since Willie Horton,” former Labor Secretary Robert Reich tweeted Wednesday.
Charlie Sykes, a Republican political commentator, said the ad “makes Willie Horton look rather tame in comparison.”
“There is no bottom,” he tweeted.
The campaign spot comes as Trump has pushed to elevate immigration in the final days of the midterms in an effort to mobilize his base.
The president urged Republican candidates to make immigration a focal point of their campaigns and has touted his hardline stance during campaign rallies, seizing on a caravan of thousands of migrants moving through Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border and vowing the end birthright citizenship through an executive order.
On Wednesday, Trump told reporters his administration could send up to 15,000 troops to the border to deal with the caravan.
