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Tuesday, September 15, 2015 7:20:12 PM
Ads by a Powerful Conservative Group Take Aim at Trump
Donald Trump Is Target of Conservative Ad Campaign
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and ALAN RAPPEPORT
SEPT. 15, 2015
Donald J. Trump at a rally at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Monday. Credit Cooper Neill for The New York Times
A deep-pocketed conservative organization with a long list of Republican scalps said on Tuesday that it would launch a major ad campaign aimed at Donald J. Trump in an effort to weaken him among the voters who have made him an unlikely but powerful force in the Republican presidential race.
The group, Club for Growth, is focusing its considerable firepower first on Iowa, where Mr. Trump has leapt to a significant lead over more conventionally credentialed Republican candidates, panicking Republican leaders. The group will spend $1 million on advertising in the state starting on Thursday, with plans for further spending in the weeks ahead, the club’s president, David M. McIntosh, announced at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.
“The Club for Growth is committed to seeing this all the way through,” Mr. McIntosh said, explaining that the group would also use mail and online outlets to carry its message and was considering joining with other conservative or Republican groups. “We’ll continue doing it until people realize that Donald Trump is not an economic conservative.”
The club is employing a two-pronged approach to try to discredit the candidate. It is utilizing Mr. Trump’s previous liberal policy views to argue that his campaign promises are disingenuous. And it is highlighting his use of eminent domain as a developer to suggest that Mr. Trump has a record of hurting middle class Americans to bolster his own business interests.
One ad, titled “Politician,” features clips of Mr. Trump voicing his more liberal positions on those issues.
It warns conservatives that “he’s really just playing us for chumps.”
"Politician" by Club for Growth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=_OEijvTi0NE
“Donald Trump is the worst Republican candidate on economic issues,” Mr. McIntosh said in a statement. “It’s astonishing that he’s even running as a Republican.”
The announcement marks the first serious and sustained attempt to defang Mr. Trump by any moneyed force in the Republican Party. It is a test Mr. Trump, for all his apparent strength, has yet to face.
No other conservative group, candidate, or faction has yet been willing to invest significant cash in bringing Mr. Trump down. Opposing candidates appear more worried about husbanding their cash, or spending it to improve their own credentials with voters, while establishment Republican forces, flush with money, fear that an attack will only heighten Mr. Trump’s appeal to angry G.O.P. voters. [ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/us/politics/talk-in-gop-turns-to-a-stop-donald-trump-campaign.html ]
Mr. Trump was quick to respond. On Twitter, [ https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc^tfw ] he called the club “little respected” and said it had solicited a $1 million contribution from him just this last spring. “Now they are spending lobbyist and special interest money on ads!” Mr. Trump charged.
The new effort comes on the eve of the second major Republican debate, after months in which Mr. Trump has seemed to float above virtually any criticism from fellow party members. Some fellow Republicans worry that his coarse comments about women and immigrants will undercut the party’s carefully calibrated effort to broaden its appeal for 2016. At the same time, some conservatives are worried that Mr. Trump’s success will spur other candidates to adopt his populist stances on taxes and free trade.
The Club for Growth now finds itself playing an unaccustomed role. For years, the group has battled with the Republican establishment, pouring millions of dollars into fierce campaigns against incumbent lawmakers deemed unreliable on economic issues. Now the group seems to be riding to the rescue, investing serious money against Mr. Trump at a time when his rivals have offered only YouTube videos and occasional barbs on the campaign trail.
“The Club for Growth beats to its own drum,” said Ari Fleischer, who worked under President George W. Bush and was a co-author of a 2013 Republican National Committee report diagnosing the party’s demographic and technological challenges in the presidential arena. “But for a change, this time they’re playing in tune with the party establishment. Add this to the long and growing list of what an odd primary this has been so far.”
Representative Tom Cole, a Republican from Oklahoma, has been targeted by the Club for Growth over the years but seemed to welcome their involvement in the presidential race. “They want the Republican nominee that has a philosophy that mirrors their philosophy,” Mr. Cole said in an interview. “When they see someone who is gaining stream who doesn’t share those views, they are going to get involved. “
Mr. Cole observed that Mr. Trump’s rivals for the nomination have been stepping up their attacks against him, but suggested that the traditional Republican establishment might face a struggle trying to stifle Mr. Trump with such a prevailing anti-establishment mood in the air. He said he doubted that a television ad campaign could do much to sway opinions about a marketing master such as Mr. Trump, but that it could help with the group’s own fund-raising.
“The Club for Growth has thousands of people that contribute and believe in it,” he said. “This is like an alarm signal to them.”
Reed Galen, a Republican consultant who worked on John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, said it could take weeks to see any effect out of the ads, and noted that Mr. Trump had a knack for using free media — such as television appearances — to counterattack.
“The club has to spend $1 million,” Mr. Galen said. “Donald goes on ‘Today.’ ”
The club is also raising money for five other candidates in the nominating contest, each of whom has been eclipsed to some extent by Mr. Trump’s rise: Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor.
Allies of the club said the new campaign was consistent with its past activism, even if the group’s interests now align with longtime critics: Mr. Trump, a former Democrat who has supported higher taxes and national health care, is a recent — and in the club’s mind, insincere — convert to conservative ideas.
Yet Mr. Trump is also unlike the moderate Republicans the club usually targets: He draws his support from across Republican ranks, including many Tea Party activists and conservative voters with whom groups like the club are typically aligned.
Mr. McIntosh said he was confident the club’s core message — the billionaire candidate is really “just a politician” — would resonate with voters who are captivated by his outsider status.
“I think the American people are wiser than that,” he said. "They’ll get it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/16/us/politics/club-for-growth-donald-trump-presidential-election.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Donald Trump Is Target of Conservative Ad Campaign
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and ALAN RAPPEPORT
SEPT. 15, 2015
Donald J. Trump at a rally at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Monday. Credit Cooper Neill for The New York Times
A deep-pocketed conservative organization with a long list of Republican scalps said on Tuesday that it would launch a major ad campaign aimed at Donald J. Trump in an effort to weaken him among the voters who have made him an unlikely but powerful force in the Republican presidential race.
The group, Club for Growth, is focusing its considerable firepower first on Iowa, where Mr. Trump has leapt to a significant lead over more conventionally credentialed Republican candidates, panicking Republican leaders. The group will spend $1 million on advertising in the state starting on Thursday, with plans for further spending in the weeks ahead, the club’s president, David M. McIntosh, announced at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.
“The Club for Growth is committed to seeing this all the way through,” Mr. McIntosh said, explaining that the group would also use mail and online outlets to carry its message and was considering joining with other conservative or Republican groups. “We’ll continue doing it until people realize that Donald Trump is not an economic conservative.”
The club is employing a two-pronged approach to try to discredit the candidate. It is utilizing Mr. Trump’s previous liberal policy views to argue that his campaign promises are disingenuous. And it is highlighting his use of eminent domain as a developer to suggest that Mr. Trump has a record of hurting middle class Americans to bolster his own business interests.
One ad, titled “Politician,” features clips of Mr. Trump voicing his more liberal positions on those issues.
It warns conservatives that “he’s really just playing us for chumps.”
"Politician" by Club for Growth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=_OEijvTi0NE
“Donald Trump is the worst Republican candidate on economic issues,” Mr. McIntosh said in a statement. “It’s astonishing that he’s even running as a Republican.”
The announcement marks the first serious and sustained attempt to defang Mr. Trump by any moneyed force in the Republican Party. It is a test Mr. Trump, for all his apparent strength, has yet to face.
No other conservative group, candidate, or faction has yet been willing to invest significant cash in bringing Mr. Trump down. Opposing candidates appear more worried about husbanding their cash, or spending it to improve their own credentials with voters, while establishment Republican forces, flush with money, fear that an attack will only heighten Mr. Trump’s appeal to angry G.O.P. voters. [ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/us/politics/talk-in-gop-turns-to-a-stop-donald-trump-campaign.html ]
Mr. Trump was quick to respond. On Twitter, [ https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc^tfw ] he called the club “little respected” and said it had solicited a $1 million contribution from him just this last spring. “Now they are spending lobbyist and special interest money on ads!” Mr. Trump charged.
The new effort comes on the eve of the second major Republican debate, after months in which Mr. Trump has seemed to float above virtually any criticism from fellow party members. Some fellow Republicans worry that his coarse comments about women and immigrants will undercut the party’s carefully calibrated effort to broaden its appeal for 2016. At the same time, some conservatives are worried that Mr. Trump’s success will spur other candidates to adopt his populist stances on taxes and free trade.
The Club for Growth now finds itself playing an unaccustomed role. For years, the group has battled with the Republican establishment, pouring millions of dollars into fierce campaigns against incumbent lawmakers deemed unreliable on economic issues. Now the group seems to be riding to the rescue, investing serious money against Mr. Trump at a time when his rivals have offered only YouTube videos and occasional barbs on the campaign trail.
“The Club for Growth beats to its own drum,” said Ari Fleischer, who worked under President George W. Bush and was a co-author of a 2013 Republican National Committee report diagnosing the party’s demographic and technological challenges in the presidential arena. “But for a change, this time they’re playing in tune with the party establishment. Add this to the long and growing list of what an odd primary this has been so far.”
Representative Tom Cole, a Republican from Oklahoma, has been targeted by the Club for Growth over the years but seemed to welcome their involvement in the presidential race. “They want the Republican nominee that has a philosophy that mirrors their philosophy,” Mr. Cole said in an interview. “When they see someone who is gaining stream who doesn’t share those views, they are going to get involved. “
Mr. Cole observed that Mr. Trump’s rivals for the nomination have been stepping up their attacks against him, but suggested that the traditional Republican establishment might face a struggle trying to stifle Mr. Trump with such a prevailing anti-establishment mood in the air. He said he doubted that a television ad campaign could do much to sway opinions about a marketing master such as Mr. Trump, but that it could help with the group’s own fund-raising.
“The Club for Growth has thousands of people that contribute and believe in it,” he said. “This is like an alarm signal to them.”
Reed Galen, a Republican consultant who worked on John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, said it could take weeks to see any effect out of the ads, and noted that Mr. Trump had a knack for using free media — such as television appearances — to counterattack.
“The club has to spend $1 million,” Mr. Galen said. “Donald goes on ‘Today.’ ”
The club is also raising money for five other candidates in the nominating contest, each of whom has been eclipsed to some extent by Mr. Trump’s rise: Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor.
Allies of the club said the new campaign was consistent with its past activism, even if the group’s interests now align with longtime critics: Mr. Trump, a former Democrat who has supported higher taxes and national health care, is a recent — and in the club’s mind, insincere — convert to conservative ideas.
Yet Mr. Trump is also unlike the moderate Republicans the club usually targets: He draws his support from across Republican ranks, including many Tea Party activists and conservative voters with whom groups like the club are typically aligned.
Mr. McIntosh said he was confident the club’s core message — the billionaire candidate is really “just a politician” — would resonate with voters who are captivated by his outsider status.
“I think the American people are wiser than that,” he said. "They’ll get it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/16/us/politics/club-for-growth-donald-trump-presidential-election.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
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