Hours after a presidential debate in which the contenders traded barbs and insults, a new ad by The Lincoln Project shows a montage of President Donald Trump's performance, describing him as a "loser" whose presidency had "collapsed in front of the whole world."
The one-minute video by the political action committee starts with a combination image of the president and Democratic contender Joe Biden, during Tuesday's debate at Case Western University in Cleveland. It then cuts to Trump being asked by the moderator, Chris Wallace, whether he was willing to disavow white supremacists.
"I'm willing to do anything, I want to see peace," is Trump's soundbite in the video, which is overlaid with the Fox anchor and Biden both urging him to condemn white supremacists. Meanwhile, a voice barely above a whisper, the female narrator intones: "It's painful Donald, so weak. I mean, really bad.
That was terrible, @realDonaldTrump — and you just collapsed in front of the whole world. pic.twitter.com/Zlk4TdCE2t
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 30, 2020
"Biden showed America you're a loser," she continues as a soundbite of Biden saying "the fact is this man doesn't know what he's talking about," is overlaid.
In response to Wallace's question about condemning white supremacists, Trump said, "Proud Boys stand back and stand by," in a comment went viral and was celebrated online by the Proud Boys and their supporters.
In The Lincoln Project ad, a montage of the candidates then shows them interrupting each other with the narrator saying quietly, "Your performance was weak...you failed...you're losing Donald."
"Your administration is falling apart. Your campaign is running out of cash and your personal finances? Ouch. Your presidency is nothing more than a house of cards Donald and it just collapsed in front of the whole world."
Newsweek has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
In another Lincoln Project ad released ahead of the debate and co-sponsored by Vote Vets, retired air force fighter pilot and airline captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who landed U.S. Airways Flight 1549 in 2009 on the Hudson River in a celebrated emergency landing, denounced Trump saying that he "has failed us so miserably," and that "all we have to do is vote him out."
In Tuesday's debate, the former vice president also accused Trump of presiding over an administration in which "America has become weaker, sicker, poorer and more divided."
Trump defended his record, saying: "Let me just say, Joe, I've done more in 47 months, I've done more than you've done in 47 years, Joe," and also said that "there has never been an administration or a president who has done more than I have done in three and a half years."
