A super PAC backing Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump “a punchline” in a new ad released Thursday, responding to a video the Republican front-runner made mocking the former secretary of state for barking like a dog at a campaign event.
And that Trump ad has also attracted a critical response — from the Kremlin.
“Yesterday Donald Trump released a video in which he mocked Hillary Clinton and asked, ‘Is this what we want for a president?’ Well, Priorities USA fixed it for him, (you’re welcome),” said Justin Barasky, a spokesman for Priorities USA, in an email.
The ad opens with clips of Russian President Vladimir Putin performing martial arts and a masked terrorist pointing a weapon at the camera.
“When it comes to facing our toughest opponents, the Republicans have the perfect answer,” words on the screen say, before cutting to a recent clip of Trump.
“Who are you consulting with consistently so that you’re ready on Day 1?” Trump is asked by an MSNBC anchor in the clip.
“I’m speaking with myself, No. 1, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things,” Trump said.
The ad then cuts to a clip of Clinton laughing, then shows a screen saying, “We don’t need to be a punchline. Vote for Hillary Clinton.”
In Trump’s video posted Wednesday, he contrasted Putin’s perceived strength with footage of Clinton barking on the campaign trail.
“When it comes to facing our toughest opponents, Democrats have the perfect answer,” the ad reads as footage from Russia Today of Putin practicing Judo and a masked man pointing a gun transitions to Clinton’s bark.
Clinton barked during a campaign event in Reno, Nevada in February as part of a colorful critique against Republican opposition to financial regulations.
The video ends with the Russian president laughing and a message reading, “We don’t need to be a punchline!”
Though Trump has praised Putin in the past, the Kremlin criticized Trump Thursday for his original ad, primarily its depiction of Putin.
“We are very negative (about such use of the Russian president’s image),” presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in reply to a question from the Russian news agency Tass.
Peskov said he had seen the video clip himself, but remarked that he was ignorant whether Putin had seen it, too.
“It is common knowledge that demonization of Russia — let me put it this way — and everything related with it is regrettably a mandatory attribute of the U.S. election campaign,” Peskov said. “We always regret this. We would like election processes to proceed without such allusions to our country.”