Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign will do just about anything to drum up support for its candidate — not matter how dishonest it is.
While outright stealing policies from former President Donald Trump is low, using the deceased for political ads is even lower.
That’s exactly what the Harris campaign did with an ad featuring the late Southern Baptist Minister Billy Graham.
On Wednesday, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” posted a clip to the social media platform X from a political ad from “Evangelicals for Harris” with footage of Graham. The footage shows him giving a sermon in which he impresses upon listeners the need to talk to ask God for forgiveness, and change.
The clip then fades into an interview Trump did at the Family Leadership Summit in 2015 in Ames, Iowa.
Republican Polster Frank Luntz asks Trump, “Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?”
Trump responded, “I’m not sure I have. I don’t bring God into that picture.”
‘Evangelicals for Harris’ have released a new ad aimed at conservative evangelicals in swing states. pic.twitter.com/AqutN3b1qx
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 14, 2024
Graham’s son — Franklin Graham — took to X to understandably express his rage with the ad and how the Harris campaign represented his father’s values.
The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father @BillyGraham’s image. They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and… pic.twitter.com/LZe3SEm9Al
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) August 14, 2024
Seeing this as stunningly insulting and shameful to the memory of his father, Graham wrote, “The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris.”
He then proceeded to remind his audience of whom his father actually supported in his lifetime.
Do you actually believe “Evangelicals for Harris” is a sincere group?
“Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President @realDonaldTrump in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
It is inarguable that this was a poor decision by the Harris campaign and one they owe Graham and his family and apology for, but in the broader context, it also shows how desperate this campaign is.
While few would accuse Trump of being overly pious, this clip is from 2015.
While looking at previous remarks by a candidate is standard in politics, the remark isn’t a smoking gun where Trump proclaimed his lifelong allegiance to the devil.
More recently, Trump made remarks after surviving an assassination attempt in July in which he more strongly stated his faith.
The Harris campaign is using Graham in contrast to Trump because it can’t use their own candidate.
For one thing, old footage of Graham is easier on the ears, but for another, Harris clearly doesn’t have anything to say on the issue of faith that would win over God-fearing Americans.
