US election 2020: New George Conway group ad contrasts Trump and Eisenhower

‘Isn’t it time America returned to a different kind of leadership?’ asks pressure organisation

A new ad from the anti-Donald Trump conservative super PAC co-founded by George Conway contrasts the president’s record with that of Dwight Eisenhower during the D-Day landings.

The latest TV ad from the Lincoln Project will screen in battleground states and highlights the leadership shown by General, later president, Eisenhower during the Second World WarI, against a backdrop of the failures of the current administration.

The 60-second ad begins by explaining that in 1944, General Eisenhower, as supreme commander of the Allied expeditionary force in Europe, prepared a statement in case the D-Day landings in Normandy were unsuccessful.

The narrator says: “Great leaders prepare for every eventuality. They hope for the best, but they prepare for the worst.” Audio is played of General Eisenhower accepting blame for a fictional failed attempt to establish a foothold in northern France in the fight against Nazi Germany.

The Lincoln Project ad was released to coincide with the 76th anniversary of the successful D-Day landings on 6 June. Its narrator continues: “Today, America faces new crises with new leaders.”

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Footage of police, protesters, and healthcare workers rolls alongside Donald Trump saying: “No, I don’t take responsibility at all.”

The narrator asks: “Isn’t it time America returned to a different kind of leadership?”

George Conway, married to White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway, has been an outspoken Republican critic of the president for some time, and the Lincoln Project ads have been uncompromising in their criticism of Mr Trump.

The new ad is scheduled to air in Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

Mr Trump attacked the group on Twitter in May in response to an ad concerning his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The TV spot took inspiration from Ronald Reagan’s 1984 “Morning in America” campaign, retitled for 2020 as “Mourning in America”.

A member of the Lincoln Project told CNBC that the president’s attack led to its biggest single day of fundraising to date.

After the war, General Eisenhower governed the US-occupied part of Germany, was chief of staff of the Army, supreme allied commander in Europe, and president of Columbia University, before becoming the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961.