The Donald Trump campaign is fuming over a “despicable and racist” attack ad from Kamala Harris, which targets Asian American voters with a warning that voting in Trump would bring back World War II-era internment camps.
The ad, which targets Asian American voters specifically, appears to suggest that Trump would bring about an environment in which they could once again face internment like they did after the Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.
It also predicts that Trump would spark a rise in racially-motivated crimes like the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin — a Chinese immigrant who was beaten to death by two white auto workers more than forty years ago.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung, the son of Chinese immigrants, told The Daily Wire that the ad shows the campaign has “no morals, decency, or ethical standards.”
“This is despicable and racist behavior by Kamala Harris and her team,” Cheung said.
“They have no morals, decency, or ethical standards, so they resort to the lowest form of political theater.”
Things are getting out of hand. @KamalaHarris just dropped a new ad targeting Asian voters that suggests Trump will bring back internment camps, blames him for the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin pic.twitter.com/CYa3ZhdKfz
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) October 26, 2024
Cheung took aim at the Harris campaign official in charge of courting Asian American voters, Andrew Peng.
“Andrew Peng is a f***ing disgrace to the AAPI community and he should be shamed for throwing his own people down the gutter for political purposes,” he continued.
The ad flashes images of the internment camps and concludes with Harris’ endorsement of the content and the message — but critics, several of whom are Asian Americans themselves, were less than impressed with the Democratic nominee’s latest efforts to reach them.
Virginia Republican Senate candidate Hung Cao, for example, is a Vietnamese immigrant whose family fled communist rule after the fall of Saigon. He said that behind all the bluster and fear-mongering that the Left has continued to stoke against Trump lurked a Democratic Party just waiting for enough power to turn the United States into the same hell from which families like his had escaped.
“Nope, that’s not it. Americans of Asian heritage know full well what Kamala Harris would turn our country into: the places our families escaped from. That’s why we are supporting @realDonaldTrump,” he said.
Nope, that’s not it. Americans of Asian heritage know full well what Kamala Harris would turn our country into: the places our families escaped from. That’s why we are supporting @realDonaldTrump.
10:51 AM https://t.co/dTBooYg1S7— Hung Cao (@HungCao_VA) October 26, 2024
Commentator Guy Benson weighed in as well, saying, “The Harris campaign is running an anti-Trump ad that flashes an image of an *internment camp* (created by a Democratic president, if we’re going there) and appears to blame Trump for the early-80s murder of an Asian man in Michigan. Astonishing demagoguery.”
The Harris campaign is running an anti-Trump ad that flashes an image of an *internment camp* (created by a Democratic president, if we’re going there) and appears to blame Trump for the early-80s murder of an Asian man in Michigan. Astonishing demagoguery. https://t.co/5HqRt9YKwc
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 26, 2024
“What an insane ad,” conservative commentator Steve Guest added. “Further, the fact Democrats don’t face more criticism all these years later for FDR’s internment camps is bananas too.”
What an insane ad.
Further, the fact Democrats don’t face more criticism all these years later for FDR’s internment camps is bananas too. https://t.co/hie0Xhqq7l
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 26, 2024
“Only one party ever put people in internment camps. Guess which one?” RedState’s Bonchie posted, a reference to the fact that it was a Democrat president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, responsible for the Japanese camps.
Only one party ever put people in internment camps. Guess which one? https://t.co/74ySXyuige
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) October 26, 2024
“These kind of ads are going to insult and repel Asian voters if anything else,” Joe Concha predicted. “I get politics can be dirty, but this is absolutely nauseating.”
These kind of ads are going to insult and repel Asian voters if anything else.
I get politics can be dirty, but this is absolutely nauseating . https://t.co/RRIzf6RbDf
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) October 26, 2024
The Harris campaign said in a Saturday press release that the ad would air in every battleground state, and said it aimed to “the need to safeguard democracy and protect the fundamental rights of Asian American communities who have too often been vilified, excluded, and marginalized throughout history.”
