Mirrors

Clinton’s Most Powerful Ad Yet Pits Trump’s Misogyny Against Young Women

The ad, called “Mirrors,” asks us if Trump is the right candidate for our daughters.

Hillary Clinton’s newest campaign ad, “Mirrors”

Donald Trump has never been particularly delicate when discussing the physical appearances of women, leaving in his wake a bounty of offensive quotations that Hillary Clinton’s campaign highlights in a devastating new ad.

The ad, entitled “Mirrors,” features young girls looking at themselves in the mirror, while Trump sound-bytes play in the background. Words like “slob,” “fat ugly face,” and “pig” play as the girls stoically arrange their hair or try to find a good selfie angle.

This isn’t the first time the Clinton campaign has used Trump’s words against him. Clinton’s YouTube channel released another ad two months ago called “Role Models,” that shows children watching Trump on their television screens as he encourages violence and yearns for “the good old days” when someone who disrupted a campaign rally would be “carried out on a stretcher.” The ad ends with Clinton cautioning us to be careful about our decisions this election: “Our children and grandchildren will look back at this time, at the choices we are about to make, the goals we will strive for, the principles we will live by, and we need to make sure that they can be proud of us.”

Hillary Clinton’s ad “Role Models.”

Trump’s careless use of language also prompted one of the campaign’s most consequential moments. At a primary debate, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly rattled off a list of Trump quotations and then asked, “Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge with Hillary Clinton, who is likely the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?” (Trump went on to retweet a message in which someone called Kelly a “bimbo,” and alleged that Kelly had “blood coming out of her . . . whatever.”)

In casting middle-school-aged girls for the most recent ad, Clinton reminds viewers that Trump’s flippant comments could leave a lasting impact on young people who see him as the leader of their country. The video ends with a clip of Trump being asked, “Do you treat women with respect?”

“Uh, I can’t say that either,” he answers, grinning.