The Republican National Committee on Tuesday released a new ad castigating House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and other Democrats for defending MS-13 gang members after President Donald Trump called them "animals."
The ad juxtaposed Pelosi's recent criticism of Trump's comments on MS-13, the violent transnational drug gang based primarily out of El Salvador, with four different news outlets describing some of the brutal crimes that MS-13 members have committed, such as stabbing a victim more than 100 times and decapitating them.
"We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in. We're stopping a lot of them, but we're taking people out of the country," Trump said in response to a question from Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims about MS-13 on May 16. "You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals, and we're taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that's never happened before."
Several media outlets falsely reported that Trump was referring to all migrants coming into the United States when he lambasted MS-13 members, and some Democratic politicians like Pelosi spread the misleading reports.
"When the president of the United States says about undocumented immigrants, 'These aren't people; these are animals,' you have to wonder: does he not believe in the spark of divinity, the dignity and worth of every person?" Pelosi said on May 17.
The RNC ad begins with that clip of Pelosi, before playing multiple clips of news reports on MS-13.
"We're talking about MS-13. Their motto is 'Rape. Torture. Kill,'" one news anchor says in the video.
"The victim was stabbed more than 100 times, decapitated, dismembered, and his heart was cut out of his chest and then thrown into a pre-dug grave," a reporter adds.
"The two young men shown here kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and shot a 15-year-old girl, sacrificing her in the name of Satan," another newscaster says.
"U.S. Marshalls say the El Salvador native shot and killed a person in Texas, put the body in the trunk of a car, and lit it on fire. They say that's typical of the MS-13 gang," a fourth journalist reports.
The ad concludes with Pelosi saying, "Calling people animals is not a good thing." The screen then turns black with the caption, "Democrats' Midterm Message: MS-13 Killers ... They Aren't So Bad."
Trump slammed MS-13 during a rally in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday.
"This vicious gang has transformed once peaceful, beautiful communities that I know so well. I know them all—into blood-stained killing fields, savagely murdering, raping, and mutilating their victims," Trump said. "And they don't even want to do it with a gun. They talk about gun control. They don't want to do it with a gun. They want to do it with knives. They want to cut people up into little pieces because it's more painful."
https://www.facebook.com/GOP/videos/10156103903860090/