Trump Melts Down Over Conservative Ad Ripping His Coronavirus Response
At 12:46 AM Tuesday morning, Donald Trump was furiously posting on Twitter about a political ad produced by the Lincoln Project. The political action committee is made up of Republican operatives who are disenchanted with the Trump administration, including lawyer George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.
The ad was modeled on one from Ronald Reagan's reelection campaign, the famous 1984 "Morning in America" ad. Featuring a montage of Americans going to work, a voiceover in that ad said, "It’s morning again in America, and under the leadership of President Reagan, our country is prouder and stronger and better. Why would we ever want to return to where we were less than four short years ago?"
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Riffing on that premise, the Lincoln Project—which is also composed of John Weaver, who worked on presidential campaigns for John Kasich and John McCain, and Rick Wilson, a "Never Trump" political strategist—delivered a more dystopian vision: "Mourning in America." The minute-long ad references growing unemployment, the coronavirus outbreak (the "deadly virus Trump ignored"), and the country's climbing death toll, which is nearing 70,000 as of Tuesday morning. It closes by mimicking some of the language of the original: "There's mourning in America, and under the leadership of Donald Trump, our country is sicker and weaker and poorer. If we have another four years like this, will there even be an America?"
Unsurprisingly, Trump was incensed by the charges. Shortly before 1 AM, he tweeted, "A group of RINO [Republican In Name Only] Republicans who failed badly 12 years ago, then again 8 years ago, and then got BADLY beaten by me, a political first timer, 4 years ago, have copied (no imagination) the concept of an ad from Ronald Reagan, 'Morning in America,' doing everything possible to get even for all of their many failures."
Trump, who lifted his "Make America Great Again" slogan from Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign, wrote that the people behind the PAC didn't care about the many things he accomplished beyond horrifically botching the nation's coronavirus response—accomplishments like "252 new Federal Judges, 2 great Supreme Court Justices, a rebuilt military, a protected 2nd Amendment, biggest EVER Tax & Regulation cuts, and much more." He continued: "They don’t know how to win, and their so-called Lincoln Project is a disgrace to Honest Abe. I don’t know what Kellyanne did to her deranged loser of a husband, Moonface, but it must have been really bad." He ended his diatribe, perplexingly, with "They’re all LOSERS, but Abe Lincoln, Republican, is all smiles!"
The president has been preoccupied with the 16th president Abraham Lincoln in recent days. On Sunday night, Fox News aired an interview with Trump staged at the Lincoln Memorial, where Trump complained about reporters' tone at his coronavirus press briefings. Describing the events during which he has frequently insulted reporters, promoted unproven COVID-19 cures, and wondered aloud if Americans should inject themselves with bleach, Trump said, "I am greeted with a hostile press the likes of which no president has ever seen. The closest would be that gentleman right up there," he said, gesturing toward the statue of Lincoln. "They always said Lincoln, nobody got treated worse than Lincoln—I believe I am treated worse."
Originally Appeared on GQ
