Campaign

Trump ad compares Biden to ‘corrupt third-world dictator’

Former President Trump and President Biden. (AP Photo/John Locher/Susan Walsh)

A new ad for former President Trump’s 2024 campaign compares President Biden to a “corrupt third-world dictator” and shrugs off the various investigations Trump faces as politically motivated.

“Acting just like a corrupt, third-world dictator, Biden has unleashed a cadre of unscrupulous government bureaucrats he controls to act like rabid wolves and attack his greatest threats,” the ad’s narrator says.

The video also pitches the various investigations Trump now faces as political attacks, accusing Biden of “launching one of the greatest witch hunts in history.” 

The video then shows images of Justice Department (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) and Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D).

Smith was selected to lead DOJ probes into Trump’s document handling and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election results — the first of which led to 37 federal criminal charges — and James is bringing a $250 million civil fraud lawsuit against Trump, his three adult children and his business entities. Bragg helmed the investigation that led to 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records, and Willis is leading a probe into election interference attempts in Georgia, which could lead to further charges for the former president later this month.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the various charges against him and repeatedly dismissed the cases he faces are politically motivated as he runs for another four years in the White House in 2024.

The ad also quotes the headline of an NBC News article that “Trump’s GOP lead grows after latest indictment.” Trump lost his reelection bid in 2020 to President Biden, who is also running for a second White House term.

Trump and Biden both appear as the 2024 front-runner in their respective party fields, setting up for a possible rematch of their 2020 contest.

“Donald Trump is right back to doing what he does best: trying to gaslight America with lies to cover up for his performance as President,” Democratic National Committee spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in response to the ad. “The American people voted against this in 2020 and will reject it again. All the ads in the world won’t change the facts.”

Updated at 1:16 p.m.