The political arm of the Club for Growth launched a new ad campaign Tuesday that takes aim at Donald Trump as part of a escalating feud between the influential anti-spending group and the front-runner for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.
Club for Growth Action released two 30-second ads that warn that Mr. Trump is a liberal on economic policy, highlighting his previous support for higher taxes, a single-payer health care system and the 2008 bailout of Wall Street, as well as his support of the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision that held that government seizures of private property through eminent domain are lawful even if the public purpose is vaguely defined.
“Trump want you to think that he is ’Mr. Tell It Like It Is,’” the narrator says in one ad, dubbed “Politician.” “But he has a record and it is very liberal.”
“He is really just playing us for chumps,” the narrator says. “Trump, just another politician.”
The ad features footage of Mr. Trump talking about his Democrat leanings, as well as a picture of him with Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The other “100 percent” spot focuses on Mr. Trump’s stated support for the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision involving the use of eminent domain.
The group is spending more than $1 million on the ads, which will run on radio and television in Iowa, host of the caucuses, which kick off the nomination contest.
Mr. Trump is leading in national polls, as well as in Iowa.
The Club for Growth and Mr. Trump have traded barbs for months. Earlier this year, Mr. Trump called on David McIntosh, the group’s president, to step down, accusing him on trying to shake him down before his campaign launch.
Mr. Trump said that Mr. McIntosh followed up a May meeting with the estate mogul by asking him to consider contributions $1 million to the group.
In a statement Tuesday, Mr. McIntosh warned that Mr. Trump “is the worst Republican candidate on economic issues.”
“Trump is the most liberal candidate on fiscal policy in the whole field, with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders,” Mr. McIntosh said. “His angry style may reflect the deep frustration Americans have with Washington leaders who have failed to keep their promises. But the policies he’d implement would benefit himself and his own interests, not the American people. That makes him the worst kind of politician.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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