Donald Trump Releases First Campaign Ad: GOP Front-Runner Touts Muslim Ban, Mexico Border Wall
Donald Trump doubled down on some of his most controversial remarks in his campaign's first television ad, reiterating his promise to temporarily ban on Muslims entering the U.S. and have Mexico pay for a wall along the border.
The 30-second spot, set for official release on Jan. 5, in the critical early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, includes images of masked militants standing in front of Arabic script and what could be interpreted as throngs of Mexicans running toward a border fence.
Trump "is calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until we can figure out what's going on," the commercial's narrator summarizes. "He'll quickly cut the head of (the jihadist terror group) ISIS and take their oil. And he'll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for."
Using bleak imagery, the ad attacks President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- the Democratic front-runner in the 2016 White House race -- for refusing to use the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism." At one point, it also shows photographs of the couple that carried out the deadly attack in San Bernardino, California.
The 69-year-old real-estate tycoon has said he's was pleased with the ad, though he indirectly admitted that he had fared very well on free media coverage so far.
The Trump campaign announced that it would be spending at least $2 million dollars per week, with $1.1 million allocated to television in Iowa and nearly $1 million spent on New Hampshire broadcasts. Previously, Trump had already run radio commercials in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and it said that those ad buys would remain in place.
In a statement from his campaign, Trump said, "I am leading in every poll by wide, double digit margins. We have tremendous crowds, incredible support from all over the country and I am $35 million dollars under budget. We have spent the least amount of money and have the best results and this is the kind of thinking the country needs. I am very proud of this ad, I don't know if I need it, but I don't want to take any chances because if I win we are going to Make America Great Again."
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