Biden attacks Trump for Goodyear boycott
The Democrats’ campaign has been laying the groundwork to dig in on the economy for weeks, but this new ad marks a shift to a more offensive strategy.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign is launching a new ad focusing on Republican President Donald Trump’s call for a boycott of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., seizing on a ready-made political opportunity they feel can help the Democratic nominee flip the state as the Nov. 3 election approaches.
The Biden campaign has been laying the groundwork to dig in on the economy for weeks, but the Goodyear ad marks a shift to a more offen- sive strategy for the Demo- crats, who plan to focus on the economic turmoil in the state, including the president’s attacks against a centu- ry-old company. The 30-second spot will run in the Cleve- land market this week, timed to coincide with the Republican National Convention.
“A company with a 122year history in Akron, Ohio, thousands of American work- ers and competitors all over the world, and a sitting pres- ident who is spinning out of control would risk American jobs to try to save his own,” the narrator says in the ad.
The ad will also run in the Fayetteville, N.C., market, the site of a Goodyear facility and a pivotal swing state in this year’s election.
The Goodyear issue started Wednesday when Trump tweeted to his 85 million followers that they should not buy Goodyear products, apparently upset at the com- pany’s dress code that does not allow attire from polit- ical campaigns, including his trademark “MAGA” hats.
“Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES — They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!),” Trump tweeted.
The move befuddled political observers and enraged Democrats, union leaders and Akron city officials. Goodyear, the largest American tire manufacturer, employs 3,300 people in Ohioand isa cultural landmark for Akron.
Some Republicans, including Gov. Mike DeWine, said they disagreed with boycotting the company.
Goodyear has all the makings of a Goldilocks issue for t he Biden campaign and Trump’s detractors: a localized selling point on a national issue of significance to voters. It has already been the subject of a television spot by The Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republicans, in Ohio.
Toni Webb, Biden’s Ohio campaign director, said they have no intention of letting up on Goodyear either. Both Biden and Trump have jockeyed for the title as more supportive of American jobs, including dueling “Made in America” tours earlier this month.
The campaign views the current state of the economy as an opening to try and put Ohio in Biden’s column for the presidential election.
Part of that strategy will be laid out this week in a counter-programming effort for the Republican National Convention featuring Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Tim Ryan, both outspoken critics of Trump and his call for a Goodyear boycott. The two lawmakers plan to highlight what they view as Trump’s broken promises to workers, including the closure of General Motors’ Lordstown assembly plant.