Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled his first campaign ads since announcing his run for president in June.
The first two spots, radio ads set to air in the early primary states, tout Trump’s business experience, slam politicians as “all talk and no action” and play up Trump’s pledge to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The $300,000 in ad buys will air in the first three primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the Trump campaign confirmed Thursday morning to CNN.
Trump has yet to air any TV ads though some of his opponents have been up with ads in the early primary states for months.
“It’s time for me to start advertising a little bit,” Trump said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show.
One ad is voiced by a female narrator while the other is voiced by Trump himself.
“Donald Trump learned the values of hard work, determination and faith at an early age. He went on to build one of the world’s most iconic brands and companies which employs thousands of people,” says the first ad, which is voiced by a female narrator. “Donald Trump is running for president because politicians are all talk and no action. They will never make our country great again. It’s time to make America great again. Maybe greater than ever before. Vote Donald Trump for president.”
The ad first aired Thursday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Trump himself delivers a similar message in the second ad, one geared toward the Iowa contest.
“The fact is, I’m going to make the greatest trade deals we’ve ever made in our country,” Trump says. “Obamacare is a total disaster. It will be repealed and replaced with something much better.”
The ad also makes a bold pledge: “If the people of Iowa vote for me, you’ll never be disappointed. I don’t disappoint people. I produce. Together we’re going to make America great again.”
DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz slammed the billionaire candidate Thursday, saying that the ads “make it clear a Trump presidency would be a bad investment for America and the middle class.”
“The ads continue the Republican approach of minimizing the major issues confronting the American people to reality television-style grade-school rhetoric,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.
Wasserman Schultz, whom Trump called “highly neurotic” earlier this week, linked Trump’s policies to those of other 2016 GOP candidates, slamming the field’s “obsession with moving America backward to policies that failed under past Republican administrations.”
Wasserman Schultz also mocked Trump’s characterization of a $1 million loan from his father as “small” and called into question his credentials as a “successful businessman” given his companies’ multiple bankruptcies.
“Trump just doesn’t understand these avenues aren’t available to countless Americans who are working day in and day out to afford a mortgage payment, or the cost of college for their families,” Wasserman Schultz said. “He hasn’t got a clue when it comes to the struggles everyday Americans face, and he’s the last person equipped to help them.”