Democratic super PAC launches ad targeting Trump's 'alternative facts' on coronavirus

A Democratic super PAC is targeting President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE’s response to the coronavirus in a new ad.

The nearly 2-minute-long digital ad, shared exclusively with The Hill on Thursday, slams some of Trump’s comments about the pandemic, characterizing his remarks as “alternative facts.”

The ad uses a split screen to juxtapose Trump’s comments with those made by the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Anthony FauciAnthony FauciUS hits 2 million coronavirus cases amid surges in some states Trump seeks to regain 2020 momentum with campaign rallies Overnight Health Care: Fauci underscores concerns about protests spreading coronavirus | COVID-19 surge in Texas sparks reopening fears | A day in the life of America’s contact tracing army MORE.

“Donald Trump thinks he knows more than America’s top doctors and scientists,” text from the ad reads at the start. The ad then goes on to play Trump’s clips under the heading “alternative facts,” with Fauci’s labeled “facts.”

The ad was released by Win the West, a super PAC focused on helping presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe BidenJoe BidenHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Trump finalizing executive order calling on police to use ‘force with compassion’ The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook MORE beat Trump in November.

“The American people deserve nothing less than the truth and the facts from their President. President Trump fails these basic tasks nearly every day. That’s why the stakes for our country and the 2020 election could not be higher,” Rep. Ruben GallegoRuben GallegoDefense bill turns into proxy battle over Floyd protests Overnight Defense: Trump’s move to use military in US sparks backlash | Defense officials take heat | Air Force head calls Floyd’s death ‘a national tragedy’ Democrats blast Trump’s use of military against protests MORE (D-Ariz.), a supporter of the super PAC, said in a statement Thursday.

“We need a president who tells the truth, believes in science, listens to public health experts, and who will always put the American people over himself. That candidate is Joe Biden,” Gallego added.

The Arizona Democrat said the ad lays out the latest examples of what has become a “presidency fueled by alternative facts.”

In one of the ad’s clips, taken from a March 27 briefing at the White House, Trump describes the deadly coronavirus by saying, “You can call it a germ, you can call it a flu, you can call it a virus, you can call it many different names. I’m not sure anybody really knows what it is.”

The ad then flips to Fauci saying the previous day that the coronavirus is “very, very much more transmissible than flu and more importantly it’s significantly more serious.”

Approval for Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has dropped recently, according to an ABC News-Ipsos poll released last week that found 47 percent of respondents said they approved of Trump’s response, compared with 52 percent who disapproved.

In a similar ABC-Ipsos survey released the previous week, 55 percent said they approved of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, with 43 percent saying they didn’t.

More than 430,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S., leading to almost 15,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.