The ad calls out President Trump for putting jobs on the line while unemployment rolls swell in Ohio and around the nation.
The newest Lincoln Project video, in partnership with Republican Voters Against Trump, slammed President Trump for demanding a boycott of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.
“Times in Ohio are getting tough. Donald Trump is making it worse, demanding a boycott to put Goodyear out of business,” the narrator says. “That’s 3,300 union jobs. Jobs that sustain families all over Ohio. Why? His feelings got hurt.”
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted “Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES – They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!”
The president’s remarks came after a Kansas television station reported that a Goodyear plant in Topeka, Kan., had banned employees from wearing MAGA (Make America Great Again) gear or Blue Lives Matter attire in the workplace. The slide stated that employees could, however, show support for causes like Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ pride.
After the backlash from Trump and his supporters, and even drop in stock prices, Goodyear’s CEO Rich Kramer issued a statement on Twitter on Thursday, saying that he wanted to “clear the record” on the factory in Topeka.
“We have a longstanding policy that asks associates to refrain from workplace expressions in support of any candidate or political party,” he wrote in a letter to Goodyear’s customers. “We have clarified our policy to make it clear that associates can express support for law enforcement through apparel at Goodyear facilities.”
The ad is only the latest in a series of blistering videos that the Lincoln Project has created. And it doesn’t portray Trump’s latest disparaging remarks in a vacuum.
The spot opens focused on the coronavirus pandemic, reminding viewers of the “172,000 dead from COVID” (which is likely an undercount based on recent data from investigations by The New York Times and others on the true death count).
From there, it frames the toll of the pandemic within the current economic situation in Ohio, where, according to the Lincoln Project, “another 35,000 file for unemployment.”
President Donald Trump has often been criticized by labor unions and Democrats for not caring about American workers and the middle class. The Lincoln Project ad now adds Republican voices to that chorus. It is airing both digitally and via broadcast in Cleveland, Youngstown, and Akron—where Goodyear is based.
The Lincoln Project was formed in late 2019 by a group of current and former Republicans. According to the PAC’s website, the goal is to “defeat Donald Trump and Trumpism.”
One of the founders, George Conway, is married to Kellyanne Conway, who currently serves as counselor to the president in the Trump administration.
Brandon Gates Brandon Gates is a social editor at COURIER. Prior to joining Courier he worked as a local tv reporter in Augusta, Ga. and had stints in public relations and foreign media. In his free time, Brandon writes for a sketch comedy show in NYC and practices yoga. He is also a powerlifting devotee.
