Lincoln Project ad depicts 175,000 caskets as ‘Trump’s wall’

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump GOP group, released a new ad Tuesday attacking President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak by highlighting the pandemic’s death toll and tying it to his signature border wall proposal.

The group’s latest ad paints a dark portrait of Trump’s border wall concept, portraying 175,000 caskets from COVID-19 fatalities lined up to form the wall structure.

The group released the minutelong ad, dubbed “The Wall,” about an hour before the start of the second night of the Republican National Convention, which is seeking to gin up enthusiasm for Trump’s reelection bid.

The digital spot begins with text on a black screen saying that “America now leads the world in COVID deaths” followed by more text that reads, “More than 175,000 Americans are dead.”

The advertisement designates those who have died from the disease as “friends & colleagues” and “sisters, brothers, mothers & fathers” as a picture of the U.S.-Mexico border appears behind. 

The spot then calculates how far 175,000 physical bodies lined “end to end” would go, saying they would “span” more than 182 miles. It then claims “Trump is building his wall” before adding that it’s “just not the one he promised.”

An illustration of caskets lined up at the border then appears, overlaid by the declaration “Trump’s wall **paid for with 175,000+ American lives**.”

Reed Galen, a co-founder of The Lincoln Project, said in a statement that “While Trump spends the week obsessing over RNC coverage, many Americans will be planning funerals, saying virtual ‘last goodbyes’ to sick loved ones, and worrying whether or not they’ll catch COVID at work.”

“It’s reprehensible, and we won’t let him pretend this isn’t happening,” he added. 

The Trump campaign has dismissed past ads from the GOP group as part of what it called an effort by “the swamp” to go after Trump while touting the president’s support in the party.

The Hill has reached out to the campaign for comment on the latest ad.

The U.S. has had the most cases and highest death toll of any country in the world for months. Johns Hopkins University data shows the U.S. has counted more than 5.7 million COVID-19 cases, leading to 178,347 deaths.

The Lincoln Project, launched by a number of anti-Trump conservatives, including attorney George Conway, has released several ads in recent months attacking the president and his allies ahead of the 2020 election.  

The first night of the Republican convention acknowledged the coronavirus pandemic but in a positive light after the Democratic National Convention slammed the administration for its handling of the crisis.