Mid-crisis, Democrat Super PAC to Spend $5 Million Attacking Trump over Coronavirus

Donald Trump coronavirus press conference (The White House / Flickr / CC / Cropped)
The White House / Flickr / CC / Cropped

A Democratic Party-aligned super PAC plans to spend $5 million on digital advertising to attack President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak — even as the nation struggles with the growing public health threat.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday:

A Democratic super PAC said Tuesday it would spend $5 million on digital advertising flaying President Trump for his response to the novel coronavirus, one of several groups that planned to devote resources to this type of messaging.

McGowan said it was critical for outside groups like hers to exact a political price on Trump as his possible Democratic opponents, former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), aim to project leadership by staying above the fray.

Biden and Sanders have hardly stayed “above the fray.” Neither has offered support to the president, and both have been scathing in their attacks.

Biden — who called Trump’s January travel ban on China “hysterical” and “racist” — criticized the president and released his own plan, while opposing travel bans from China, Europe, “or any other part of the world.”

Sanders called for Trump to be replaced on the coronavirus issue by “experts” and Congress — and said he should be “shut up.”

Former Democratic Party presidential candidate Andrew Yang took a different approach on Tuesday, offering his support to the White House as it considered a temporary, emergency version of his signature campaign idea: $1,000 per month to each American household.

Another former candidate, Michael Bloomberg, pledged $40 million Tuesday to the fight against coronavirus — a small fraction of the fortune he spent on his failed campaign, which cost over half a billion dollars.

According to the Post, the $5 million ad buy is only one of several similar efforts by left-wing groups to capitalize on the coronavirus outbreak.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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