Clinton super-PAC links GOP to Trump

The super-PAC supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid hammered the Republican Party by linking Donald Trump’s controversial comments on immigration with those of two of the party’s other front-runners. 

{mosads}“Seventeen candidates are running for president with one message for immigrant families,” the ad from Priorities USA begins, showing text both in English and Spanish. The screen pivots to a mash-up of the comment from Trump as well as former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.) and Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.). 

Trump has made a number of controversial statements about Hispanics since he jumped into the race. He’s been quoted referring to Mexican immigrants as “bringing drugs, they are bringing crime, they’re rapists,” as well as his defense of using the term “anchor babies.”

Bush is also shown defending himself after using “anchor babies” on a radio spot and later saying didn’t regret using the term. The ad includes video of Walker agreeing with the call to end birthright citizenship of illegal immigrants. 

Walker has since walked back that support on two separate occasions, while Bush has said he meant the term in relation to organized immigration fraud schemes “more related to Asian people,” not as a demeaning comment.  

Clinton and Bush battled on Twitter last week over Bush’s use of the term.

The move by the super-PAC is the latest in Democratic efforts to tie Trump’s comments to the party writ large. The Democratic National Committee has repeatedly chided the party as the “Retrumplican Party” in press releases and some Republicans are worried his conduct may hurt the party’s effort to maintain control of the Senate in 2016.

Trump’s net favorability rating with Hispanics has fallen to negative 50 percentage points, according to a Gallup poll released this week. But a July Univision poll of Hispanics suggested that the unfavorable perception hasn’t had an impact on the party in general, as only 14 percent of Hispanics said they believed his rhetoric was indicative of the party.