TV ad blasts Trump’s business ties to criminals

Link: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/3/donald-trumps-business-ties-criminals-blasted-tv-a/

Summary: A super PAC that is known to be conservative recently released an ad that condemns Donald Trump for having ties to drug dealers, convicted felons, and other people who have been involved in wrongdoings. This ad is from America Future Fund, and is part of the GOP’s escapade to prevent Donald Trump from becoming the Republican nominee in 2016. The ad is related to remarks Sen. Ted Cruz made about Trump not releasing his tax returns, which could reveal mafia ties and other illegal business. This super PAC does not back Cruz, though, and ran ads against him as well in Iowa. AFF has also attacked Trump on his university, saying that it has scammed many of its students. The newest ad though, entitled, “Best Negotiator,” highlighted Trumps relations with three men; one, a former senior advisor of Trump who became a convicted stock scammer, a helicopter pilot who turned a convicted felon, and a once real estate worker who took part in trafficking ecstasy. “He claims that as a businessman, he will bring in the ‘greatest minds,’ the ‘most talented’ people,’ and ‘the best negotiators.’ But the more Americans learn about Donald Trump, the more they realize that he will really bring in people who are just like him: morally bankrupt frauds,” American Future Fund adviser Stuart Roy said in a statement.”

Class Connections: In class, we have lately been discussing the media and how they influence politics. We also discussed super PACs, both of which are the main point of this article. We talked about how ads are used by politicians and interest groups to influence the general public on certain issues and political figures. This article talked about an ad released by a super PAC that attacked a particular candidate, one form of how ads are used in order to inform the voters of the U.S. 

My View: I believe that ads are fine to be used for and against candidates in elections as long as they are truthful. Many ads we see today are not true and are often vague and barely scratch the surface of certain political issues and candidates problems. It would be hard to regulate the quality of information in campaigns, but the system could be made better with some simple changes. The government could institute laws that force PAC leaders and interest group leaders to require checks in the information that is used in advertisement of campaigns. There are many things that could be done, and with the insane make-up of this election, there might need to be rules and laws instituted quickly.