Political Experts React to Kamala Harris Ads Against Donald Trump

Intro to Alyssa Mastromonaco you know that when it comes to political ads the thing I hate most are negative ads I think the ad sucks to be just very specific about it welcome to political experts react where we break down political ads and media explain what the people behind them are trying to accomplish and decide whether or not they did a good job I'm Dean Fifer former communications director for Barack Obama joining me today is former White House Deputy Chief of Staff and host of crooked media's hysteria podcast my good friend Alysa asrom Monica this episode of political experts react is brought to you by zbiotics pre- alcohol your first drink for a better tomorrow Alysa Master Monaco welcome back to political experts react it is great to see you buddy you know I love ads campaign ads are always your favorite part of politics absolutely we are having a very special exciting episode it is a KLA Harris episode of Poli react we had an entire agenda a huge plan and then Sunday happened we shift everything around and we have some KLA Harris ads to look at as a way to try to imagine what the campaign between K Harris and Donald Trump is going to look like how do you feel about that I mean I'm ready for it I just I think ads are going to matter a little bit more this time around they better otherwise the entire premise of this show collapses well trying to do you a solid here right if if ads so matter and pulls are wrong my crooked media career is kind of I'll be honest you can always come make jam with me that's right okay let's “Paid the Price” from MAGA Inc. start with an ad from magga Inc which is a prot trump super pack comma was in on it she covered up Joe's obvious me decline our president is in good shape in good health tireless vibrant and I have no doubt about the strength of the work that we have done but kamla knew Joe couldn't do the job so she did it look what she got done a border Invasion runaway inflation the American dream dead they created this mess they no comma owns this failed record make America great again Inc is responsible for the content of this advertising all right so I think this adds a pretty good preview of what we're going to hear from Republicans at least at the outset of the race against K Harris there are two arguments in here one is that she Bears responsibility for all the things that people may or may not like about the Biden administration's record and this other thing that she somehow has been part of some sort of conspiracy to cover up president's mental decline or infirmity or whatever else what do you think of the ad what do you think of those two arguments so I think that those two arguments are really cynical I'm not surprised the Trump cynical in a political ad get get out out you here's the thing you know that when it comes to itical ads the thing I hate most are negative ads and this to me feels I'm going to tell you feels a little trit it feels like the Trump campaign and the GOP were caught flat-footed and this was like the best they got I just look to me it signals they're going to go scorched Earth they're going to do all the things that we know they're going to do and it felt like this was the absolute lowest hanging fruit do you think voters care about this idea that somehow K Harris or other Democrats were in involved in some sort of conspiracy around Biden I think that voters who were never going to vote for Biden Harris in the first place this ad validates what they hope to be true and what they think to be true but to me this does not probably persuade persuadable voters I think the ad sucks to be just very specific cheap I mean it's like the quality is really bad all these Republican Consultants were I don't know out of barbecue on Sunday they checked Twitter they found out they had a different candidate they had to go cut an ad like this and they did it on the cheap to get it out there in the first news cycle yeah one of the challenges for k Harris is there is a world in which she will bear some of the anger or blame or responsibility for things people don't like about the Biden Harris Administration and very specifically around the Border because Republicans have spun this false tale that she was in charge of the Border I feel like I am playing wacka all with this and no one cares but she was not in charge of the Border she was given a specific task which is the exact same task that President Obama gave president Biden when there was a similar surge in migrants at the Border in 2014 which was to work with the countries where the migrants are coming from to see if you can put in policies to help stem the migration she was not in charge of border security she was not in charge of law enforcement at the border she was not in charge of managing the facilities to house migrants that was not her job but this is what they want to do the conspiracy thing is just idiocy to me it is like we see it's crazy also like guess what he trips so what I don't know the whole thing to me was just felt like a real throwaway yeah the the tripping footage was problematic for Biden in a campaign that was about making him seem too weak to do the job I think it's totally irrelevant against K Harris and they haven't yet adjusted their strategy to account for the new environment and I hope they never do but can I tell you something that I think is wild about all this is that this is a group of people who have been beating a drum for however many months that Biden's unfit and that he shouldn't be running and so like this is what you wished for what' you what were you waiting for like I just felt like they would have had something slightly better in the can exactly like there had been reports they had done some testing and preparation for kamla Harris if this is the best they have that's that's a very positive sign I also think they don't really understand Democratic politics and they didn't really think he was going to step aside and that if he did step aside that she would be the one who would necessarily and automatically Ascend to the nomination Oh you mean the the party of the person who gave the longest speech ever in history at the and C second only to himself and himself the previous years he is three for three in speech is over 1 hour of the convention all right people I'm back once again to encourage you to smash that subscribe button to my substack newsletter the message box this newsletter is for people who want to beat Donald Trump it will give you tools and talking points to help you convince your RFK curious cousin about why you should get on board for KLA Harris 2024 if you like this show and you like pod Safe America I promise you you'll love the message box so go to crooked.com newsletter to sign up okay the next ad “The Antidote to Trump” from Kamala Harris for the People we're going to watch is from KLA Harris's 2020 primary campaign sick of this well think about this he's a world leader in temper tantrums she never loses her cool she prosecuted sex Predators he is one grab by the she shut down for profit colleges that swindled Americans he was a for-profit college at Trump University we teach success literally he's owned by the big Banks she's the attorney general who beat the biggest banks in America and force them to pay homeowners $18 billion he's tearing us apart she'll bring us together this is Trump and in every possible way this is the anti-trump so if that's what you're looking for in your next president there's really only one k okay this ad is nearly 5 years old at this point it was an ad her campaign ran right after she announced as a way to introduce her to the Democratic primary electorate but I wanted to highlight it because I think it does set up the sort of contrast that she may run on and was that contrast was explicit in her remarks to the Biden campaign staff on Monday when she sort of lay out difference between them so you can see an ad in this Vein from her campaign in the near future what do you think of it oh I love it I love it because you know what it's not just negative ad it's contrast it's like here is Trump and here is kamla I think that I cannot wait to see the 2024 version of this ad I want to see the Brett Kavanaugh footage when she is questioning him at his confirmation hearing like there is so much more now for her to even say which again like you said she previewed at the speech she gave to campaign staff but to me I think this is very effective this to me for people who have been sitting out the race for the most part are going to pay attention to I think it will make people think I love this ad I love this ad when it ran the first time I remember it from then I think it shows why people have such a belief that K Harris can run a much more competitive race against Trump than we thought Biden could even though the polling at this point does not necessarily suggest it even though the pollings we see here show are doing a few points better but you see the upside of the campaign or you see the contrast that you have and just think about everything that's happened in the 5 years since she ran this ad that's the thing there should be like a this was the first ad I did and now here it is and he's gotten so much worse since then he's been found liable but in a court for rape he's involved in fraud he's now been found guilty of Fraud and fined like a quarter billion dollars for fraud he has been convicted of a felony he's a convicted criminal 34 and the part about he'll divide us she'll bring us together he sparked a violent Insurrection tried to overthrow the like you can see the contrast is even sharper now than it was 5 years ago our friend David Axelrod always says that in elections when you are running against an incumbent they want the replacement not the replica yeah and yes K Harris is the vice president to the incumbent president but Trump is an incumbent figure in this race he was President four years ago he is the better known of the two he's the one with the record and she is the opposite of trump in every way and you see that here and I think it is the the foundation for an incredibly strong Sponsor Segment (ZBiotics) campaign I agree let me tell you if there's one Sure Fire way to wake up feeling fresh after a night of drinking it is zbiotics pre- alcohol C biotics pre- alcohol is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic it was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking here's how it works when you drink alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut it's this byproduct not dehydration that's to blame for your rough next day zbiotics pre- alcohol produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down just remember to make zbiotics pre- alcohol your first drink of the night drink responsibly and you'll feel your best tomorrow last week we were on tour in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention and let me tell you I am so glad that I packed zbiotics pre- alcohol because we had to stay up all night and watch JD Vance Matt Gates Donald Trump speak and you can't really do that without a drink and I will say I took zbiotics every time every time I felt great it worked so go to zbiotics docomo pre- alcohol is back with 100% money back guarantee so if you're unsatisfied for any reason they'll refund your money no questions asked thanks to zbiotics pre-ol for sponsoring this video and for our Good Times okay “The Time is Now” from Women Vote the last ad we're going to watch is from women vote it's called the time is now they'll stop at nothing well I got of Ro v Wade the Republican party is committed to Banning access to abortion for all women in this country but kamla Harris Won't Back Down vice president Harris hammers Republicans on the issue of abortion rights for women with so much at stake we don't have time to waste resilient Relentless Fighter the time is now women voter is responsible for the content of the sad what do you think of this one I don't like it at all tell me why I'm going to tell you why I'm not sure who this ad is for who is the audience who are they thinking of when they made this ad I'm not saying I disagree with the message at all it's just I think if you are creating ads that are meant to persuade people meant to give people new information I think that when you're doing ads on abortion they need to be a little bit more emotional this was fine I don't think anyone's going to pay attention to it right and again this was put together really quickly but I would be getting ads with the women who are were suing the state of Texas because they were all denied abortion care and some of them almost died I would get a doctors talking about how they can't provide basic medical care I would be talking about how you know in in America there are places where you go into an emergency room and emergency medical staff are confused about whether or not they can treat you for a medical condition around a pregnancy and so I think that it's fine but I think that if we're going to be doing ads on abortion care I think that talking about how much more extreme they want to get it's not just about abortion it's about contraception it's about IVF I just think that there are more compelling ads I also think that the video of her testimony and talking to Brett Kavanagh and saying can you point to a place where men's bodies are regulated and he can't like I don't think that that ad was for Democrats who are pro-choice I think again that's for people who are in the middle who they're trying to bring over and prove that what Trump has done is really extreme I think you could a very emotional visceral ad on this and to me that's just not it I think this ad is fine fine with a lowercase f right it's it's fine it speaks to something that I think won't really play itself out on the ads but will play itself out the campaign Trail which is we know that abortion is an absolutely essential issue for Democrats in this election it is one in which Joe Biden was an imperfect and slightly uncomfortable messenger you can you can address that in the ads and the Biden campaign ran some great ads on the subject they have the ad with Halley Deval that went up just last week talking about her story they've had ads from a doctor in Texas they've had they've had some very very good ads using testimonials of women and those are the best Those ads test through the roof now KL Harris Ken is this has been the issue she has led the way on right that's why I thought this was so lackluster yeah this is like this is this is like that uh the Maga incad it's someone kind of threw it together pretty quickly to take advantage of the new cycle the fact that it's a contrast ad is good all the research I show also shows that contrast ads are by far the most effective ads this cycle and then the last Point here that I'm sort of curious about and we don't know right so they just kind of throw this together or is the use of terms like Relentless and fighter is that responding to something that has shown up in their research as a potential vulnerability right do they think she's not a fighter is that sort of is there some baked in misogyny that leads into that I just I would be curious when we see when the ads that come from future forward the pro Biden now Pro Harris super pack or PR USA or the Harris campaign itself the ad is mostly symbolic of the fact that Democrats can now much more aily and compellingly put abortion at the center of the conversation here that with k Harris of the ticket that with Joe B the ticket I think that matters a lot yes and if anyone's doing abortion ads and wants a consultant please bring me in because I have so many ideas her DMS are open People alista Master Monaco thank you for coming back on political exp react it is always the best to have you here buddy will you you bring me back in the fall when we can talk about the really expensive ads that are out absolutely yes thanks for watching these ads and videos with us if you have anything you like us to break down let us know in the comments see you all next time [Music]