The Washington Post apparently got a little misty-eyed Thursday when it published an article about Donald Trump’s recent remarks on North Korea — referencing Hillary Clinton attack ads against Trump no less than three times in the space of a short article, while also quoting a top Clinton campaign official.
The article, “With ‘fire and fury,’ Trump revives fears about his possession of nuclear codes,” is an analytical look at Trump’s threats to North Korea about the rogue regime’s military escalation — and suggests that the threats are part of Trump’s impulsive nature.
In doing so, it cites voices on both sides of the divide on whether Trump is taking the right tone on North Korea. But in doing so it also cites a surprising number of pro-Clinton ads.
By the third paragraph it notes:
Last fall, Hillary Clinton’s campaign used as one of its final weapons a TV ad featuring a longtime nuclear missile launch officer who warned against voting for Trump: “I prayed that call would never come. Self-control may be all that keeps these missiles from firing.”
“Then, quick-fire, a series of clips of Trump on the stump: “I would bomb the s— out of them.” “I want to be unpredictable.” “I love war.”
It then notes polls suggesting that voters trusted Clinton more than Trump with nuclear weapons. Then later in the piece, the article mentions Clinton’s ads again:
“The Clinton campaign ran ads focused on Trump as commander in chief throughout October, including one spot that showed Trump asking, ‘Why can’t we use nuclear weapons?’”
For further insight into the detail behind the ads, the article then quotes Jim Margolis, the Clinton campaign’s media adviser.
“One of the great concerns voters had, particularly independent voters, was the threat of somebody that impulsive, that erratic, that unprepared, having control over the nuclear codes,” Margolis says in the piece.
The Post article goes on to cite Margolis again:
“There may have been a presumption that if elected, Trump would settle down, become more presidential, less crazy in his taunts, and that the cocoon of security advisers around him would keep him in check,” Margolis says in the piece. “Clearly, that presumption was wrong.”
If the reader hadn’t had their fill with the lashings of pro-Clinton voices and ads in the article, purportedly on North Korea, then the Washington Post delivers one more ad for readers to sink their teeth into, as well as a reference to a 1964 Democratic ad spot.
Another anti-Trump spot, made by a super PAC run by former senator Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), targeted Ohio voters and evoked the famous 1964 “Daisy” ad for President Lyndon B. Johnson that capitalized on fears that his Republican challenger, Barry Goldwater, was too reckless to be trusted with nuclear codes.
The article is part of a series called “The Debrief” that claims to offer “a reporter’s insights.” It appears that in this article, many of those insights are very similar to the rhetoric of the Clinton campaign.
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.