Anti-Trump video uses MLK assassination photo
A new campaign ad opposing Donald Trump features an iconic image from the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., according to a new report.
The ad, which was released Friday, includes the image of King’s close aides pointing in the direction of his assassin, James Earl Ray, shortly after the shooting in 1968, taken from an iconic photo.
{mosads}The report from The New Republic said the video was made by American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic opposition research firm.
The commercial shows the image of King’s aides pointing while narrators hit Trump, the GOP’s presidential nominee, on race.
“Trump refused to disavow former [Ku Klux Klan] leader David Duke,” a male reporter says in the spot, referencing the white nationalist’s support for Trump.
“[It’s a] white supremacist robocall endorsing Donald Trump,” a female reporter says in another segment.
“He’s something even more dangerous,” a second male journalist concludes. “[Trump’s] utilizing racism to build his movement.”
The image of King’s aides pointing their fingers is also mixed with images of the GOP nominee, as he talks about violence against protesters at his campaign rallies.
“I’d like to punch him in the face, let me tell you,” he says over footage of a white supporter fighting a black demonstrator. “Knock the crap out of them. In the old days, they didn’t come back.”
The ad ends by changing Trump’s campaign slogan so it reads “Make America Hate Again” rather than “Make America Great Again.”
American Bridge 21st Century is a super-PAC supporting Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.
King was shot and killed on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.
The ad comes as Clinton and Trump both step up their rhetoric on race.
Trump on Wednesday said Clinton is a “bigot” who doesn’t truly care about minorities.
Clinton on Thursday responded by arguing that Trump is giving a voice to fringe elements and stoking racial tensions.
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