As noted earlier today, free-enterprise advocacy group Club for Growth has taken aim at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, unveiling a $1 million issue-focused media buy in Iowa through its affiliated Super PAC. The campaign will consist of two 30-second television ads delivered through both traditional broadcast venues in addition to emerging digital delivery platforms.
The firebrand frontrunner’s national lead extends to Iowa where he enjoys support from 27.2% of likely caucus participants, leading second-place contender Ben Carson by a spread of 6.4 points.
“Donald Trump is the worst Republican candidate on economic issues,” explained Club for Growth president David McIntosh, in announcing the ad buy. “It’s astonishing that he’s even running as a Republican. Trump is the most liberal candidate on fiscal policy in the whole field, with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders.”
The ad campaign’s two spots will call attention to Trump’s record prior to entering the race.
The first spot, entitled “Politician”, criticizes Trump as “very liberal” on a litany of economic issues including taxes, healthcare, and bailouts, while highlighting Trump’s statement, “In many cases, I probably identify more as a Democrat,” given in a 2004 interview with CNN’s Late Edition.
While Club for Growth’s claims are well-cited on their website, it remains to be seen how effective this spot will prove outside of Iowa’s most politically active voters. Republicans outside the political bubble who are drawn to Trump’s straightforward, no-nonsense style may not perceive the attack as credible, given its blitzkrieg-style presentation of a litany of claims not supported by the twice-included soundbyte.
The second spot, entitled “One Hundred Percent”, takes aim at Trump’s vocal and well-documented support of eminent domain abuse in the case of Vera Coking, an elderly widow in Atlantic City, NJ, who faced the loss of her property through eminent domain to satisfy the development whims of Trump, who enlisted the full force of government in his attempt to replace Coking’s house with a parking lot for limousines at his Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino.
The nationally-known case, which galvanized the property rights movement, was ultimately decided in Mrs. Coking’s favor, through the intervention of attorneys working for the Institute for Justice.
The spot’s title, “One Hundred Percent”, refers to Trump’s emphatic support of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the 2005 case Kelo v. City of New London, which permitted takings through eminent domain for ultimate use by private entities.
“I happen to agree with it one hundred percent,” stated Trump, in a 2005 interview with Neil Cavuto.
These abusive practices were repudiated and prohibited in Virginia in November 2012, when over 74% of voters approved Virginia’s Property Rights amendment after relentless campaigning by its authors, Republicans Rob Bell and Mark Obenshain.
This second spot is direct, hard-hitting, and raises from Trump’s past a toxic issue which, if brought to widespread attention, threatens to alienate much of Trump’s support among conservatives and undermine his credibility on other issues spanning the full spectrum.
Club for Growth’s ad campaign is the latest salvo in an ongoing battle with the real estate tycoon, who branded the group as “pathetic” and a “waste of money” following a 2015 meeting. Over the years, Club for Growth has remained consistent in its criticism of Trump, who it lambasted in a 2011 op-ed by then-president Chris Chocola, a former US Representative from Indiana.
Writing in the New Hampshire Union Leader, Chocola criticized Trump’s plans tax hikes:
“Trump’s tax hike on net worth is destructive, and even worse when you consider that he made this proposal before the implementation of the Bush tax cuts. A tax on net worth of this magnitude would cripple small-businessmen who are making capital investments, would cause a massive stock sell-off and would, conservatively speaking, have other catastrophic effects on growth.”
Trump may eventually regret his choice of words if Club for Growth’s million dollar ad buy halts his rise in Iowa polling. View the ads and decide for yourself:
