Exclusive: Trump ad accuses Biden of mainstreaming "radical" policies
20 August 2020
President Trump's re-election campaign is launching a new ad as Joe Biden accepts the Democratic nomination, accusing him of embracing "radical left" policies for the country.
Why it matters: The 30-second ad, "Mainstream," aims to scare centrists and older Americans watching the Democratic National Convention who feel uneasy about figures to the left of Biden, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
- It’s part of the campaign’s week of heavy counter programming, including a four-day, seven-figure takeover of the Youtube masthead and homepage takeovers of the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Daily Caller for various 24-hour periods during the DNC.
Driving the news: The television ad opens by quoting Sanders (D-Vt.) speaking at the convention on Monday night, saying that "many of the ideas we fought for — that just a few years ago were considered radical — are now mainstream.”
- The ad's narrator predicts higher taxes, the elimination of fossil fuels, and amnesty for millions of undocumented immigrants and warns, "Your job, savings and future won't be safe in Joe Biden's America."
Behind the scenes: Trump's campaign has been seeking to use socialism a wedge issue, and one officials tells Axios they think fresh convention footage from this week will help to paint Biden as "a socialist sympathizer."
The other side: "Donald Trump is the most radical president in modern American history," said Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates, criticizing Trump's response to the pandemic and other issues and pushing back against claims that Biden would raise taxes on most Americans or ban fossil fuels.
Details: The ad will air in five early voting states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin — and on national cable, and follows a digital ad released earlier this week attacking Biden's mental capacity.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.