The most unusual part of Donald Trump's new ad
Donald Trump鈥檚 new political ad is getting a lot of attention. 滨迟鈥檚 his first video foray into the Iowa and New Hampshire TV markets, and it鈥檚 as belligerent as you might expect, jumping from shots of terrorism suspects and border-crossing migrants to video of United States warships firing cruise missiles, flashing police lights, and a thundering Mr. Trump promising 鈥� no surprise here 鈥� to 鈥渕ake America great again!鈥澛�
滨迟鈥檚 in 30 seconds. The Donald鈥檚 not into soft-focus bio spots with waving flags, rippling wheat, and puppies. He鈥檚 out to remind the citizens of early voting states of his core campaign promises, from the border wall (paid for by Mexico) to blocking Muslims at the border 鈥渦ntil we can figure out what鈥檚 going on.鈥�
鈥淭he point may simply be to remind them how different Trumpmania is from political business as usual,鈥� opines Allahpundit at the right-leaning .
In that context, what鈥檚 the ad鈥檚 most unusual (or inaccurate, if you鈥檙e a critic) aspect?
Most pundits might point to the faux fleeing Mexicans. When the ad promises that Trump will stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border, it shows a scary action shot of small, dark figures scurrying across a sandy shallows from a low hill to a fenced area.
The problem here is that the video is not of the US border. It was taken in Melilla, an autonomous Spanish area inside the borders of Morocco.
At first Trump officials insisted they did this on purpose, to show what might happen if current trends persist. Later Trump鈥檚 lawyer that using the clip was a 鈥渕istake鈥� and he鈥檇 talk to the person who put the ad together.
But lots of campaigns make mistakes with stock footage. For our money the more problematic part of the Trump ad is something else: his continued insistence that somehow the US will 鈥渢ake鈥� Middle Eastern petroleum reserves.
This comes in the brief part when the deep-voiced narrator says Trump will 鈥渃ut the head off ISIS鈥� and then 鈥渢ake their oil.鈥� Sounds good, right? After all, ISIS is financing lots of activities via their control of Iraqi and Syrian oil fields. They鈥檙e stealing the oil themselves and selling it on a shadowy world gray market.
This is a variation of a policy Trump has long advocated. Back in 2011, his plan to lower gas prices, then over $4 a gallon, included simply seizing Iraq鈥檚 oil fields, so the US could get something for the expense of its invasion.听
The problem here is that鈥檚 a lot harder than it sounds. As Brian Beutler notes at the New Republic, it鈥檚 not as if this oil is sitting around in giant stashes of barrels that the US can load onto C-5s and fly back to the homeland. 滨迟鈥檚 in the ground, in the form of vast liquid reserves. If the US is going to 鈥渢ake鈥� it, US troops would have to guard the facilities for years, given that Iraqis, Kurds, Syrians, and other local countries and/or political factions consider oil their own.
鈥淪hort of occupying those countries indefinitely, and stealing the oil on behalf of American companies, in the face of global condemnation, this isn鈥檛 going to happen,鈥� .听
Of course, Trump and his voters would probably say that鈥檚 loser talk. And that sort of projection of strength may be a big part of his domestic political appeal.
