Ad portraying Trump’s ‘border wall’ of caskets hits Arizona airwaves

A grisly new ad from The Lincoln Project depicting 175,000 caskets as President Donald Trump’s border wall will be in heavy rotation in Arizona this week as the group seeks to dissuade moderate Republicans and right-leaning independents from voting for the president.

The group, a political committee led by Republicans opposed to Trump, announced Wednesday it was spending $500,000 to air the ad in the Grand Canyon State. 

The ad, titled “The Wall,” opens with text on a black screen noting that “America now leads the world in COVID deaths” with more than 175,000. As a picture of the U.S.-Mexico border appears, the ad says those who have died from the disease are “friends & colleagues” and “sisters, brothers, mothers & fathers.” 

If lined up, those 175,000 dead bodies would “span” more than 182 miles, the ad claims. It then asserts that “Trump is building his wall,” adding it’s “just not the one he promised.”

An illustration of caskets lined up at the border then appears, overlaid by the declaration “Trump’s wall **paid for with 175,000+ American lives**.”

“While Trump spends the week obsessing over (Republican National Committee) coverage, many Americans will be planning funerals, saying virtual ‘last goodbyes’ to sick loved ones, and worrying whether or not they’ll catch COVID at work,” Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, said in a written statement. “It’s reprehensible, and we won’t let him pretend this isn’t happening.”

A spokesman for The Lincoln Project said the ad would air primarily on broadcast stations in the Phoenix area. Arizona is one of several battleground states, including Michigan and Wisconsin, where the group is spending several million in the upcoming week, the spokesman said.

Earlier this month, the group announced a slate of Arizona leaders. And in January, it went after U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, labeling her a “Trump hack” because she voted to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial.