New Joe Biden ad hits Donald Trump on ‘suckers and losers’ report

Screen Shot from Joe Biden campaign commercial "Knock On The Door."

The Joe Biden campaign is launching a new television ad in Florida and other swing states that has a retired Air Force general from Florida expressing exasperation over reports that President Donald Trump referred to war dead as “suckers” and “losers.”

Retired Brig. Gen. John Douglass explains that as a young soldier he was a casualty notification officer, with the duty of going to families’ homes to inform military families that their loved ones had been wounded or killed in combat. He says Trump “doesn’t get it.”

The 30-second commercial, “Knock On The Door,” begins with video of the fronts of several houses, as Douglass starts, “When you’re walking up to knock on that door you’re already grieving for the family. These military families suffer. Those spouses are not suckers. And those children are not losers. “

That’s a reference to an article in The Atlantic earlier this month that reported Trump making disparaging remarks about members of the U.S. military who have been captured or killed, including referring to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018 as “losers” and “suckers.”

Trump called The Atlantic story “totally false.” However, several news media including The Associated Press, Fox News, CNN and the New York Times reported they have independently confirmed the comments, at least in part, through their own sources.

“It’s obvious that this President has no real empathy. It just shows he doesn’t get it,” Douglass concludes.

The commercial is targeting veterans and military families in key battleground states. The ad will air on television and be featured on digital platforms in Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, targeting media markets and areas with a high number of military households and veterans.

“Knock On The Door” is part of a $65 million media barrage the Biden campaign is running this week across broadcast and digital.

The Biden campaign said in a news release that Douglass grew up in Florida and now splits his time between Florida and Virginia.