Um, Biden buying ads in Texas . . .

Joe Biden just rolled out a new television ad that will air in a state that a Democratic presidential candidate has not won in 44 years: Texas. The ad makes no mention of President Donald Trump. It doesn’t show footage of Trump for even one second.

Yet the minute-long spot makes a very powerful case against Trump precisely because it does not do either of those things.

This paradox reflects a particular reading of this political moment by the Biden team—and a fundamental truth about this campaign.

So the new spot features Biden speaking directly to the camera in an effort to connect on a human level with the emotional toll the pandemic is taking.

The ad is part of a six-figure broadcast and digital campaign that is airing in Texas, CNN reports. Versions will also run in Arizona, North Carolina and Florida, states where Biden leads by 2.2 points, 3.2 points and 6 points, respectively.

Biden almost certainly won’t win Texas, where it’s roughly tied. But Democrats are pressuring Biden to push into places such as Texas and Georgia, to expand down-ballot possibilities, to experiment with paradigm-shifting electoral college routes through the Sun Belt, and to deliver as massive a repudiation of Trump as possible.

So this new foray into Texas is probably just a test, an effort to probe how broad the map can get, and to satisfy Democrats who want to see Biden being as ambitious as possible.

But the mere fact that Biden running ads in such parts of the country doesn’t seem unreasonable or quixotic should be seen as ominous for Trump, especially given that this ad’s particular message will likely find receptive audiences there.

The new ad repeatedly speaks to people’s emotions about the novel coronavirus: fear, apprehension, uncertainty about how to stay safe, and worry about loved ones, such as grandparents and children, who are shown three times, in a mask and in their mothers’ arms.

That’s no accident. It comes even as Trump is urging schools to reopen, but more to the point, it comes as Trump is showing himself utterly incapable of appreciating that parents who are contemplating reopened schools are afraid.

Trump laid this bare in a remarkable exchange on Monday. A reporter noted that various localities are delaying school reopenings, and others are giving parents the choice. Then he asked what Trump has to say to “parents who are worried about the safety of their children.”

“Yeah, the schools should be open,” Trump said impatiently, before segueing to a demented claim that he “saved millions of lives” by acting on the coronavirus. Trump repeated the claim, visibly annoyed that the media won’t amplify this absurdity for him. Trump made an oblique hint about children’s “vulnerabilities,” but promptly minimized the threat and blamed Democrats for nefariously wanting to keep schools closed.

Notably, Trump is largely incapable of understanding such a line of questioning as anything other than an effort to deny him credit for his glorious handling of the pandemic and an effort to harm him politically.

This is very much a deliberate contrast; Biden has spoken this way on other occasions as well. But now it’s in an ad in Texas, a historically red state where coronavirus cases are surging.

This by itself is far from enough of a reason to vote for Biden. But it sets down a baseline of basic respect for people’s humanity.