Dem Super PAC Trump Threatened Over Coronavirus Ad Releases Spanish-Language Versions Aimed At Florida Latinos

Priorities USA, the Democratic super PAC that angered President Donald Trump’s campaign by targeting his handling of the coronavirus crisis, which spawned ineffectual cease and desist letters sent to the stations running the ads, is now out with Spanish-language Covid-19 digital ads aimed at Florida Latinos in the critical November state.

The two ads, first provided to Mediaite, similarly condemn Trump for bungling the response to the coronavirus pandemic, while using his own words against him.

“The coronavirus…this is their new hoax,” Trump can be heard saying in the ad, which is translated into Spanish subtitles as the number of Covid-19 cases explode over a map of the United States.. “We have it totally under control…We really think we’ve done a great job in keeping it down to a minimum…I don’t take responsibility at all.

“The Trump campaign is doing all they can to prevent us from hearing Trump’s own words as he downplayed and mismanaged this crisis, leaving us all at risk. But Latino communities will not fall for his lies,” said Daniela Martins, Hispanic Media Director of Priorities USA. “We will not be intimidated, and we will continue our work to ensure that Latinos know the truth, and can hold this president accountable for the risk he has left us in.”

The second ad includes Trump’s damning statement that, “No, I don’t take responsibility at all,” for the lack of tests for the coronavirus, ending with a line in Spanish: “America needs a leader it can trust.”

The Trump reelection effort sent cease and desist letters to the news stations running the original ads, calling them “misleading” because of how Trump’s own words are combined in succession. For example, the Trump campaign said the president never called the coronavirus a hoax, but instead said the politicization by Democrats was the hoax.

Priorities USA responded by expanding the ad campaign into Arizona with a $600,000 buy beginning this week and continuing to air it across Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The Spanish-language ads come on the heels of a Latino-focused digital program by the Democratic super PAC in both Florida and Arizona since November, mostly focused on kitchen table issues, and part of its $100 million total campaign during the primary.