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      Harris Campaign Ads Use John Kelly’s Words Describing Trump as ‘Fascist’

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      Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is turning a recording of Donald J. Trump’s former White House chief of staff John F. Kelly, in which he describes the former president as meeting “the general definition of fascist,” into two stark new ads.The ads are the latest attempt by Ms. Harris, in the final two weeks, to turn the 2024 race into a referendum on Mr. Trump and his fitness for office. Ms. Harris delivered a televised statement at her residence this week after Mr. Kelly’s comments were published, saying they were sounding an alarm to the nation.The ads, titled “A Warning,” are scheduled to immediately go into the Harris campaign’s rotation of television and digital advertising, a campaign official said, adding that they would be targeted in particular at markets with larger populations of veterans.And Ms. Harris underscored the message at a CNN town hall on Wednesday when she herself also called Mr. Trump a “fascist.”Both the 30-second and the 60-second ads begin with a black screen and a pulsating, alarm-like sound as the words, “An unprecedented warning …” are typed onto the screen.The text then identifies Mr. Kelly, Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff and a four-star Marine general, before cutting to a recording of Mr. Kelly’s recent interview with a reporter for The New York Times, Michael S. Schmidt.“Do you think he’s a fascist?” Mr. Schmidt asks.The 30-second version compresses Mr. Kelly’s response: “He certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist: using the military to go after American citizens.”The 60-second version quotes Mr. Kelly at greater length: “He certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist. It’s a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader. The former president — he is certainly an authoritarian. Using the military to go after American citizens is a very bad thing.”Both ads also include a clip of Mr. Kelly quoting Mr. Trump as saying, “Hitler did some good things, too.”The pulsating alarm sound continues throughout both ads, with the same red text typing at the end: “Donald Trump is unhinged. Unstable. In pursuit of unchecked power.”Mr. Trump has attacked Mr. Kelly since his public comments, such as in an interview on Fox News on Thursday in Arizona.“I fired him,” Mr. Trump said, according to a transcript provided by Fox News. “He made a statement that I’m like Hitler. It’s — just couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s just the opposite, actually.” More

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      In Trump Ad, ‘Not a Thing That Comes to Mind’ Ties Harris to Biden’s Liabilities

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      Kamala Harris’s hesitancy to put daylight between her and President Biden gave Donald Trump’s campaign a big opening.Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign is running this 30-second ad on television stations across the battleground states, spending more than $10 million on it over the past six days, according to AdImpact.Here’s a look at the ad, its accuracy and its major takeaway.On the ScreenThe ad opens with a shot of what appears to be migrants running near a border wall, beneath a headline blaring, “Illegal crossings surge,” citing an Associated Press article from last December. It then shows a man shopping in the produce section of a grocery store, under the words “Prices still rising,” citing CNBC last May. A clip of a missile strike emphasizes the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East, under the headline “Global chaos,” attributed to The Wall Street Journal in March. Vice President Kamala Harris is then shown smiling as if in satisfaction, her hands folded at her chin.A clip plays from Ms. Harris’s Oct. 8 appearance on the ABC show “The View,” in which she is asked if she would have done something differently from President Biden, then responds, after blinking several times: “There is not a thing that comes to mind.”The screen freezes on that frame, as new all-caps headlines reflect the narration: “What would change with Kamala? Nothing.” As a split screen seems to show Ms. Harris nodding along on the right, a clip of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 plays under the headline “More weakness.” An aerial view of a ground explosion plays under the headline “More war.” A crowd of what appear to be migrants is headlined “Welfare for illegals.” And a machine counting $100 bills is shown under a last headline: “Harris would raise taxes.”Mr. Trump is then shown, shot from below as he strides across an airport tarmac, waving to a rally crowd, shaking a blue-collar worker’s hand and showing off his signature on a piece of legislation, as more optimistic headlines flash by: “Middle-class tax cuts” and “Prices were lower.”Trump for President 2024We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Judge Orders DeSantis Administration to Stop Threats Over Abortion-Rights Ad

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      The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida must stop threatening television stations with criminal prosecution for airing a political ad in favor of enshrining abortion rights in the state’s Constitution, a federal judge ordered on Thursday.Judge Mark E. Walker of the Federal District Court in Tallahassee ruled in a temporary restraining order that the threats by the Florida Department of Health to stations across the state likely amounted to “unconstitutional coercion” and “viewpoint discrimination.”“The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false,’” Judge Walker, who has frequently ruled against the administration, wrote in his 17-page order. “To keep it simple for the state of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”The order followed an emergency hearing on Thursday after Floridians Protecting Freedom, the organization behind a campaign for an abortion-rights ballot measure known as Amendment 4, sued on Wednesday.This month, the state’s health department sent several television stations a cease-and-desist letter urging them to stop airing an ad, titled “Caroline,” that is part of the “Yes on 4” campaign. It features a woman named Caroline Williams discussing how she had been diagnosed with stage four brain cancer when she was 20 weeks pregnant.“Florida has now banned abortion even in cases like mine,” Ms. Williams says in the ad.The state called the ad “false.” At least one station stopped airing the ad after receiving the department’s letter, the suit said.“This critical initial victory is a triumph for every Floridian who believes in democracy and the sanctity of the First Amendment,” Lauren Brenzel, the director of the “Yes on 4” campaign, said in a statement on Thursday. “The court has affirmed what we’ve known all along: The government cannot silence the truth about Florida’s extreme abortion ban.”Mr. DeSantis has vowed to defeat Amendment 4 and has leveraged the power of the state to oppose the measure, leading to several legal challenges. The courts had declined to intervene in prior cases.Julia Friedland, Mr. DeSantis’s deputy press secretary, said in a statement that Judge Walker had “issued another order that excites the press.”“The ads are unequivocally false and put the lives and health of pregnant women at risk,” she said. “Florida’s heartbeat protection law always protects the life of a mother and includes exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and human trafficking.”The campaign is seeking a preliminary injunction against the state. Judge Walker scheduled a hearing for Oct. 29.A separate lawsuit, filed by opponents of Amendment 4 and seeking to toss the measure from the ballot, is pending in state court. More

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      Under Trump, U.S. Prisons Offered Gender-Affirming Care

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      The Trump administration’s approach is notable in light of a campaign ad that slams Vice President Kamala Harris for supporting taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for prisoners and migrants.A campaign ad released by former President Donald J. Trump in battleground states slams Vice President Harris for supporting taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for prisoners and migrants, concluding: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”But the Trump administration’s record on providing services for transgender people in the sprawling federal prison system, which houses thousands of undocumented immigrants awaiting trial or deportation, is more nuanced than the 30-second spot suggests.Trump appointees at the Bureau of Prisons, a division of the Justice Department, provided an array of gender-affirming treatments, including hormone therapy, for a small group of inmates who requested it during Mr. Trump’s four years in office.In a February 2018 budget memo to Congress, bureau officials wrote that under federal law, they were obligated to pay for a prisoner’s “surgery” if it was deemed medically necessary. Still, legal wrangling delayed the first such operation until 2022, long after Mr. Trump left office.“Transgender offenders may require individual counseling and emotional support,” officials wrote. “Medical care may include pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., cross-gender hormone therapy), hair removal and surgery (if individualized assessment indicates surgical intervention is applicable).”The statement, in part, reflected guidelines that officials in the Obama administration released shortly before they left office in January 2017, which were geared at ensuring “transgender inmates can access programs and services that meet their needs.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Harris Campaign to Fly Ads Over N.F.L. Games in Swing States

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      As the Harris campaign continues to court male voters, it is dialing up a deep shot, targeting a venue where it thinks it will reach quite a few of them: professional football.The campaign is spending six figures on flyover advertisements knocking former President Donald J. Trump and promoting Vice President Kamala Harris at four N.F.L. games that are taking place on Sunday in swing states, with teams in those matchups collectively accounting for six of the seven main presidential battlegrounds.The four games are in Wisconsin, where the Green Bay Packers will host the Arizona Cardinals; Nevada, where the Las Vegas Raiders will host the Pittsburgh Steelers; North Carolina, where the Carolina Panthers will host the Atlanta Falcons; and Pennsylvania, where the Philadelphia Eagles will host the Cleveland Browns. (Michigan is the only swing state left out, with its Detroit Lions playing in Dallas on Sunday.)In Las Vegas, fans will see skytyping planes fly over the stadium to draw a simple message in white: “Vote Kamala.” In the other venues, a plane with a banner will deliver a slightly longer plea: “Sack Trump’s Project 2025! Vote Kamala!” In Philadelphia, that message will include a nod to the home team: “Go Birds!”The campaign is part of an effort to attract hard-to-reach voters, especially men, said Abhi Rahman, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.“Our goal is to meet people where they are, and there is only a sliver of the electorate that is still undecided,” Mr. Rahman said. “What we know about these undecided people — majority male — is they don’t like to read political publications. They aren’t in the 24-7 world of policy and politics, so what we are trying to do is reach them in a different way.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Inside a Kamala Harris Ad That Draws an Implicit Contrast on Character

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      Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is running this 30-second ad on television stations in at least four battleground states and has spent more than $5 million since first airing it in mid-September, according to AdImpact.Here’s a look at the ad, its accuracy and its main takeaway.On the ScreenThe first few seconds of this ad are pulled directly from Ms. Harris’s appearance on Sept. 10 in a presidential debate against former President Donald J. Trump. Viewers see a composed vice president who leans on her career as a prosecutor to argue that she will represent Americans across political parties if she wins in November.Photos show Ms. Harris as a prosecutor and then as vice president. Video clips show her alongside her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, as she greets supporters at a market in Wisconsin and a campaign office in Phoenix. They show her speaking expressively to construction workers in Philadelphia and with volunteers at a Planned Parenthood in Minnesota. And they see her smiling, hugging or shaking hands with workers in a record shop and a nursery in Washington, D.C., a Georgia solar-cell factory, and a Wisconsin union hall.Harris for PresidentThe ScriptHarris“As a prosecutor, I never asked a victim or a witness, ‘Are you a Republican or a Democrat?’ The only thing I ever asked them: ‘Are you OK?’ And that’s the kind of president we need right now. Someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first. I intend to be a president for all Americans and focus on investing right now in you, the American people. And we can chart a new way forward.”AccuracyThere are no verifiable claims.The TakeawayThis ad is meant to portray Ms. Harris as more presidential than partisan. The promise of governing for all Americans has become a bit of a rote message — and Mr. Trump has promised to do the same — but her campaign is putting serious money behind the idea that voters still want to hear it.The ad showcases Ms. Harris’s qualifications and does not make explicit mention of Mr. Trump. Yet it draws an unmistakable contrast between her behavior and that of the person who was standing just several feet to her right at the debate.And it foregrounds what Ms. Harris has long considered one of her best career attributes: her years as a prosecutor who protected victims and cracked down on violent offenders.Voters have signaled that they want to know more about Ms. Harris, and that the character of both candidates is a significant concern to them. The ad frames their choice as between a candidate who is empathetic, pragmatic and focused on moving past the political divisions of the past decade, and an opponent whose character is so well known that it needs no explicit description here. More

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      Inside a Trump Ad Hammering Harris Over Americans’ Economic Woes

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      Former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign began running this 30-second ad linking Vice President Kamala Harris to President Biden and the administration’s economic record on television stations in at least five key battleground states last week. The campaign has spent $2.8 million on those commercials, according to AdImpact.On the ScreenThe ad begins with a blurry image of a laughing Ms. Harris standing behind Mr. Biden on a stage, reaching out and grabbing his shoulder — physically linking them — as the words “Bidenomics is a FAILURE” blare across the screen.More bleak headlines follow: “Bidenomics FAILED.” “Bidenomics is a RECORD FAILURE.” “Americans’ incomes down THREE STRAIGHT YEARS.” “Unemployment RISING.” “America may soon be in a RECESSION.”The ad shows scenes intended to evoke Americans struggling as they go about their lives: a man putting gas in his pickup truck, a family standing morosely in front of a house with a for-sale sign, construction workers in hard hats, a man looking somberly out a window scratching his head. Another headline warns, “Bidenomics hits families with $5,600 pay cut,” before grainy video shows Ms. Harris happily declaring, “We are very proud of Bidenomics.”The ad ends with a close-up of Ms. Harris laughing, followed by a photo of Mr. Trump pumping his fist in front of an American flag and the words “Americans trust Trump on the economy.”The ScriptNarrator: “Their Bidenomics led to the highest inflation in 40 years. Highest gas prices ever. Skyrocketing interest rates. Unaffordable housing. Incomes down. Unemployment rising. And a recession now headed our way. Yet Kamala Harris is clueless.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      El incidente de Trump en Arlington es inédito

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      Donald Trump no es el primer candidato que infringe la prohibición de actividades partidistas en el Cementerio Nacional de Arlington. Pero nadie ha respondido tan hostilmente como su campaña.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]En noviembre de 1999, el senador John McCain, republicano por Arizona y ex prisionero de guerra en Vietnam, quien era ampliamente considerado un héroe militar, dijo que su recién lanzada campaña presidencial había cometido “un error muy grave”.McCain, que en aquel momento iba muy por detrás de George W. Bush en la carrera por la nominación de su partido, había producido un anuncio de campaña en el que destacaba su carrera como piloto de la Marina y su reverencia por sus compañeros de servicio. En un momento dado, el anuncio mostraba a McCain caminando solemnemente por el Cementerio Nacional de Arlington.El Ejército no tardó en decir que la campaña de McCain nunca había solicitado permiso para filmar en el cementerio. Incluso si lo hubiera hecho, dijo entonces un portavoz del Ejército, la solicitud habría sido denegada porque las actividades partidistas están prohibidas en las instalaciones del Ejército. Un portavoz de la campaña dijo que el video procedía de una de las visitas periódicas del senador a las tumbas de su padre y su abuelo.Fue un incidente político de campaña que se pareció bastante, antes de divergir bruscamente, a otro que tuvo lugar la semana pasada. Un portavoz del Ejército dijo el jueves que la campaña del expresidente Donald Trump tampoco había recibido permiso para filmar en una zona restringida del Cementerio Nacional de Arlington durante la visita de Trump el lunes, y que no podía haberlo recibido porque violaría la ley federal.El Ejército emitió una rara reprimenda pública a los funcionarios de la campaña de Trump por los ataques que dirigieron a un trabajador del cementerio que había tratado de detener la filmación. (Un portavoz de la campaña había acusado al trabajador de sufrir un “episodio de salud mental”). La campaña de Trump había sido informada de que filmar con fines de campaña iba en contra de las normas del Ejército y, sin embargo, los funcionarios de la campaña siguieron adelante, incluso, según el Ejército, empujando físicamente al trabajador del cementerio.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More