Disaster For Trump As Campaign Sent Reeling After Botched Television Ad

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:41 pm

The Donald Trump campaign is reeling and spinning itself in circles after admitting that they accidentally screwed up the Republican frontrunner’s first television ad by showing footage of Morocco instead of Mexico.

Donald Trump’s first television ad showed footage of people pouring over a border that the campaign suggested was from the US southern border. PolitiFact tracked down the footage, “PolitiFact was able to trace the footage back to the Italian television network RepubblicaTV. On May 3, 2014, the network posted footage of migrants crossing the border into Melilla, one of two enclaves on the Moroccan coast that are held by Spain. Migrants who cross the border there are essentially entering territory held by a European Union nation, even though they are still on the African continent.”

Instead of owning up to their mistake, the Trump campaign claimed that they used footage of Morocco while talking about the border with Mexico on purpose. Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told NBC News, “No s***, it’s not the Mexican border but that’s what our country is going to look like. This was 1,000 percent on purpose.”
On Tuesday, Trump’s lawyer told CNN’s New Day that the use of the footage of Morocco was an accident, “Yeah, I’m going to have a conversation with whoever made the mistake — there’s no doubt about that.”

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

The lawyer took the admission that a mistake was made back in an email to to the media, “I wasn’t aware of the question as stated, knew little about the ad or campaign strategy, but after connecting with the Trump campaign, I understand it was done that way to demonstrate that the United States has become a dumping ground for other countries who are continually taking advantage of us. I do not speak for Mr. Trump or the campaign.”

Trying to fool voters into believing that footage of Morocco was the US border with Mexico was bad enough, but the bigger problem for the Trump campaign is that they have demonstrated that can’t handle something as simple as getting their story straight. The Trump campaign has been all over the place with their excuses while refusing to be honest with voters about their mistake.

The worst fears of many Republicans are being confirmed with this debacle. If Trump can’t release an ad without screwing it up, how is going to win an election if he is the Republican nominee? Donald Trump doesn’t have much in terms of campaign organization, and the fact that they botched their first ad and continued to lie about it should make Republicans very uneasy about nominating a campaign that is clearly an amateur hour operation.

The media and the Republican Party have set the bar very low for Trump, but his campaign seems to have no idea what it is doing.

Donald Trump is a disaster in the making for Republicans. His campaign’s “we meant to do that” juvenile lies will sink the Republican Party is he is their nominee.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association