Progressive veterans group launches campaign labeling Trump as a ‘national security threat’

One of the largest progressive veterans groups in the country is launching a new campaign against President Trump on Monday that seeks to raise pressure on several Republican senators up for reelection next year.

To mark Veterans Day, VoteVets will fly planes over key Senate battleground states like North Carolina, Arizona, Kentucky and Colorado Monday morning, with a banner that reads: “Vets: Trump is a National Security Threat.” The group seeks to specifically target Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).

“In less than a year, voters will go to the polls. We intend to remind them every day between now and then that Donald Trump is a national security threat and that these key Senate Republicans encourage and enable him at every step of the way,” Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets, wrote in a statement announcing the campaign.

In addition to the planes, the group also plans to run digital ads and to launch a website detailing all the ways in which Trump has posed a national security threat to the United States. This includes everything from allegedly “inviting foreign interference in our elections” to “raiding funds for our military families to build his wall.”

VoteVets is spending roughly $30,000 in total on the campaign.

Though the progressive group has long been critical of Trump, this marks the first time VoteVets has launched a political initiative on Veterans Day.

The move comes as Republicans look to hold on to the Senate in the 2020 elections.

The Cook Political Report has labeled the races for Senate seats held by Gardner and McSally as “toss-ups” and has rated Tillis’s race as “lean Republican” and McConnell’s as “likely Republican.”