Biden Campaign Releases Hypocritical 'Abuse of Power' Ad; Trump Campaign Bludgeons Them With One of Their Own

Former Vice President Joe Biden mimics shooting a gun as he speaks at the Chuck Hagel Forum in Global Leadership, on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Omaha, in Omaha, Neb., Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

It’s been a tough week for former Vice President Joe Biden. At a campaign event on Sunday in New Hampshire, he was heckled by several members of the audience. One said, “Don’t touch kids, you pervert.” Another said he was “creepy.” And a young woman began a chant of “Quid Pro Joe.” I must say, he handled the insults far more gracefully than others might.

“Don’t touch kids, you pervert!” shouted a heckler to Joe Biden at his NH campaign event. https://t.co/9VW10JcO2v

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) December 30, 2019

The next day, the Biden campaign put out a new ad (which can be viewed in the tweet below), created to hit President Trump over his “abuse of power.” The ad begins, with a very earnest Joe Biden telling a crowd:

I really honest-to-God believe our democracy is at risk. My dad used to have an expression: ‘Joey, the greatest sin of all is the abuse of power.’ Whether it’s a man raising his hand to a woman or a child. Or whether it’s someone with economic power abusing people who don’t have it or a government that abuses its power.

It’s the greatest sin that exists. It’s a cardinal sin – the abuse of power. And that’s what you’re seeing now. And if we don’t fight back, if we don’t respond, Republicans and Democrats and Independents alike – democracy is not a guarantee.

My dad had a saying: “Joey, the greatest sin of all is the abuse of power.”

Right now, our democracy is at risk. We’ve got to come together and fight back against Donald Trump — Democrats, Republicans, Independents alike. pic.twitter.com/uZBwyJFD9V

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 30, 2019

Yes, he really said that. The U.S. Vice President who abused his own power by threatening to withhold $1 billion of badly needed aid to Ukraine if they did not fire the prosecutor who was about to investigate his son really did say that.

The Trump War Room saw Biden’s new ad, and immediately created one of their own (the second video in the tweet below).

The Trump ad begins with the clip that we’ve all seen endlessly of Biden boasting to a group at the Council on Foreign Relations about how he threatened to hold back “the billion.” Then the narrator says, “When President Trump asks Ukraine to investigate corruption, the Democrats want to impeach him and their media lap dogs fall in line. They lost the election. Now they want to steal this one. Don’t let them.”

The clip features House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing the impeachment, shifts to video of Rachel Maddow and Don Lemon and the infamous photo of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Pelosi, impersonating the farmer and his wife in Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” painting, issuing their rebuttal to Trump’s border wall speech. And a sinister soundtrack completes it.

Although brief (30 seconds), it sends a powerful message. When viewed right after the Biden clip, the effect is similar to that of sticking a knife into a balloon.

Watch the clip.