The Biden-Harris campaign announced on Thursday its first ad of 2024 will run on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and highlight “the existential threat our country’s democracy faces from the MAGA extremism that now defines the Republican Party…”
“I’ve made the preservation of American democracy an essential issue of my presidency,” Biden says in the 60-second ad, titled “Cause.”
“There's something dangerous is happening in America. There’s an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy,” he continues.
The half-a-million-dollar ad will run for a week on national and local television news programs in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. A shorter version of the ad will run on digital platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and Connected TV, the campaign said in a press release.
Jan. 6 and Trump’s actions surrounding the riot will be a central focus of Biden’s reelection campaign, and he plans to emphasize the threats from “MAGA extremism” in a speech Friday in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania—an event that had initially been planned for Jan. 6 but was moved up a day due to an impending storm.
“Led by Donald Trump, MAGA Republicans are running on an extreme platform of undermining the will of the American people who vote in free and fair elections, weaponizing the government against their political opponents, and parroting the rhetoric of dictators in service of forcing their extreme, unpopular agenda,” said Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez in a statement. “Over the last three years, MAGA Republicans haven’t shied away from the Big Lie – they’ve doubled down. This ad serves as a very real reminder that this election could very well determine the very fate of American democracy.”
Conservatives blasted the ad's divisiveness from a man who pledged to be a great unifier upon taking office.
The vilification of half of the country. Literally propaganda to fuel hate and division amongst the citizenry. They're actively attempting to create violence, so they can justify rounding up conservatives.
— John-Paul Berg (@JohnBer02386296) January 4, 2024
This is so dark.
Joe Biden is now trying to further divide America with his new ad that calls Trump supporters an “extremist movement.”
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) January 4, 2024
If loving my country and hating how Biden has ruined it makes me an extremist then I wear that as a badge of honor.pic.twitter.com/XhujI6TexH
Joe Biden is King George III. Those who love liberty are his enemies -- so he calls us "extremists". Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin were "extremists". God bless America! This is our second Revolution to win liberty for all. https://t.co/7OxPse1BqE
— Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) January 4, 2024
This is divisive… Calling half the country an extremist movement.👇 https://t.co/XOVQlTWI3i
— Ashley 🇺🇸 (@AshleyPeeler1) January 4, 2024