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When it comes to campaign finance, Donald Trump isn’t doing so well. The presumptive Republican nominee’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, out-fundraised him by $41 million in May (Trump managed $1.3 million), and now it seems his campaign is trying to obtain illegal contributions from abroad. Good thing the New York real estate mogul is backed by the National Rifle Association, because the unabashedly pro-gun group won’t stand for the increased volatility of America’s gun control debate. Hence why they’re supporting a candidate who suggested his voters would stick with him even if he stood “in the middle of 5th Avenue and [shot] somebody” with a new ad featuring a Benghazi survivor.
The 30-second ad in question, “Stop Clinton, Vote Trump,” cost the NRA Political Victory Fund more than $2 million to produce and distribute. According to USA Today, it’s “one of the larger expenditures by an outside group” on Trump since his campaign began last summer, and it takes aim at Clinton’s never-ending Benghazi scandal. To accomplish this multi-million dollar feat, the organization put Marine Corps veteran and Benghazi assault survivor Mark Geist front and center.
“A lot of people say they’re not going to vote this November because their candidate didn’t win,” Geist tells the camera while walking through a cemetery. “Well, I know some people who won’t be voting this year either. Hillary as President? No thanks. I served in Benghazi. My friends didn’t make it. They did their part. Do yours.”
Though a percussion-heavy soundtrack recalls director Michael Bay’s cinematic corpus, it doesn’t look anything like his adaptation of Mitchell Zuckoff’s 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi. (Along with Annex Security Team of which he was a member, Geist co-authored the book with Zuckoff.) Instead, the ad simply follows Geist around the cemetery with a few dramatic pans, closeups and quick cuts.
The ad will play on broadcast and cable channels in battleground states like Colorado, Ohio, Nevada, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania. However, considering the Benghazi Committee’s final determination on Tuesday that Clinton did nothing wrong, whether or not the NRA’s gamble pays off remains to be seen.
(Via USA Today)