Critics compare Trump’s midterm spot to racist Willie Horton ad from 1988



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With just days to go before the midterm elections, President Trump released an ad on his Twitter account that shows a laughing illegal immigrant convicted of killing two law enforcement officers vowing to “kill more cops” and blames Democrats for letting him stay in the country.

The 53-second ad opens with a slogan, “Illegal immigrant, Luis Bracamontes, killed our people,” and video shows him during a court appearance smiling at the judge before being removed by court officers.

“They’re dead. I don’t regret that,” Bracamontes says between shouting profanities in the courtroom. “I will break out soon and kill more.”

“Democrats let him stay,” flashes on the screen.

The ad, released Wednesday, then cuts to scenes of what appears to be the Central American migrant caravan crowding roadways and storming fences.

A man, identified as a “deported immigrant in caravan,” says through an interpreter that he wants to come to the US so he can apply for a pardon for attempted murder charges.

The words, “Who else would Democrats let in?,” are superimposed over images of Bracamontes laughing.

The ad, which has 2.06 million views by Thursday morning, concludes: “President Donald J. Trump and Republicans are making America safe again.”

Bracamontes was convicted and sentenced to death in April for killing Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer County Sheriff’s Detective Michael Davis Jr. in 2014.

At the time, Bracamontes was an illegal immigrant from Mexico who had been deported twice.

“It is outrageous what the Democrats are doing to our Country. Vote Republican now,” appears at the top of the ad Trump tweeted to his 55.5 million followers.

Critics blasted Trump for releasing the spot and compared it to the blatantly racist “Willie Horton ad” that George H.W. Bush’s campaign used in 1988 against Democratic candidate and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.

Horton, who was African American, raped a woman after he was released on a weekend furlough from a Massachusetts prison where he was serving a life sentence in 1987.

Dukakis supported the furlough program.

Former President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor Robert Reich said Trump and the Republicans have “resorted to fearmongering.”

“This may be the most desperate and vile ad since Willie Horton,” Reich said on Twitter.



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