New Ads in Iowa: Let's Face It, Trump's a Liberal
The Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative advocacy group, comes out guns blazing today with a seven-figure, multi-platform ad buy against Donald Trump in Iowa. The much-anticipated TV spots are intended to expose Trump as a candidate who aligns with liberal Democrats on key issues, and who places his own self-interest over principle -- no different than your average craven politician. The group's political arm pulls no punches on its website, writing, "Club for Growth Action believes that Trump is the worst Republican candidate on economic issues—plain and simple. In fact, short of Bernie Sanders, he may be the most liberal candidate in the whole field on fiscal policy." Here are the two 30-second ads, featuring healthcare, taxes and eminent domain:
This line of criticism hardly requires dredging up ancient history. Trump defended socialized healthcare at the first GOP debate, praised President Obama's "stimulus" boondoggle, and recently recommended Obama-endorsed tax hikes on the rich, earning praise from Bernie Sanders, Warren Buffett and Paul Krugman. His enthusiasm for big government's abuse of eminent domain laws, which strip individuals of property rights in pursuit of higher tax revenues, is another indication of Trump's Statist and cronyist impulses. Donald Trump has preemptively assailed the Club for Growth as a "pack of thieves" -- echoing liberals' unflattering references to the "Club for Greed" -- and will certainly dismiss these policy critiques as establishment attacks funded by special interests and hedge fund managers. The organization's defenders will counter that they've accumulated a stellar record of supporting conservative challengers over establishment-backed candidates, including Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio (Trump was a Charlie Crist guy in 2010, incidentally). The question remains, though: Will any of these hits find their mark, or will Trump remain teflon? As we mentioned yesterday, the political rules of gravity don't seem to apply to the brash billionaire, a reality that's been reinforced repeatedly over many weeks. I'll leave you with the Free Beacon's mash-up comparing Trump to Obama. Critics argue there are more than a few striking similarities, both on substance and attitude -- as well as between both men's most devoted constituencies: