Hillary Clinton is starring in campaign advertisements yet again.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, running in the Republican primary to take on Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., released a video on Monday tying his potential opponent to Clinton– with a heavy assist from Clinton herself.
Weaving together footage of McCaskill lauding Clinton with footage of the failed presidential candidate’s recent comments about states that voted for President Trump, Hawley’s video makes the case the two politicos share a common disdain for middle America.
“Senator McCaskill led the Hillary Coalition,” the video begins, proceeding to ask, ” And what does Hillary Clinton think about us?” before simply letting Clinton speak for herself. Though the ad is only one minute and 17 seconds long, more than 30 seconds of it is just footage from Clinton’s remarks to an Indian news publication earlier this month. “I won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward,” she bragged, contrasting those regions with “all that red in the middle” won by Trump, whom she said prevailed by “looking backward.”
“This is what Claire McCaskill and her ‘president’ think of you,” the ad concludes.
Of course, Clinton’s comments were too far even for McCaskill, considered one of the most vulnerable upper chamber incumbents, who last week referred to her statement as “fighting words.”
“I don’t think that’s the way you should talk about any voter, especially ones in my state,” she said.
McCaskill previously defended Clinton’s infamous “deplorables” gaffe in 2016, criticizing the candidate for casting such a “wide net,” but arguing nevertheless she made a “valid point.”
But Clinton’s recent comments could not have been scripted better by Hawley himself, who last week formally launched his campaign by waging a culture war against McCaskill, connecting her to faraway elites in Hollywood, Washington, and Wall Street. “Hollywood and Wall Street and the DC political establishment have worked together to rig a system that favors them, the wealthy and well-connected, while ignoring the rest of us. And Claire McCaskill is their eager ally. More than that, she’s their icon,” Hawley said.
“These people tell us that we’re the past and they’re the future,” he added. “Well, with all due respect, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
McCaskill’s support for Clinton was always going to be used against her, given that Trump won Missouri by nearly 20 points. And with the sharp regional contrasts in Trump’s favorability providing fuel for Republicans looking to cast their Democratic opponents as allies of disdainful elites, Clinton kind of proved their point.
For Hawley and other Republicans looking to unseat Democratic incumbents in Trump Country, messages like this will likely find resonance.
