While TV viewership may not be what it once was, millions of Americans still gather to watch the NFL every Sunday. And with the election just five weeks away, it appears as though the Trump campaign is looking to make a splash with a national audience by running a new attack ad against Kamala Harris across the networks covering the big games.
The 30-second spot focuses on Harris’ support of taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for prisoners and illegal immigrants, and it has been called “effective” even by those who are no fan of the former president.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Joe Pagliarulo, host of The Joe Pags Show, to discuss the success of the ad and who the Trump campaign was able to reach with its placement.
The Ad
Late last month, team Trump debuted a new ad that takes aim at one of Harris’ most controversial positions – her support of so-called ‘gender affirming care’ for incarcerated criminals and illegal immigrants. Watch it below:
When Trump raised the issue at the ABC News debate on September 10, he was widely mocked for suggesting the vice president would support such a policy. “Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison,” Trump said at the time. “This is a radical left liberal that would do this.”
As it turns out, he was correct and outlets like Time Magazine were forced to issue corrections. He was referring to report published by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski, who dug up a 2019 questionnaire from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in which Harris selected “yes” to a question that asked if she would “use your executive authority [as president] to ensure that transgender and nonbinary people who rely on the state for medical care — including those in prison and immigration detention — will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care?”
In the written explanation, she wrote, in part, that she supports “policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained.” She said something during the 2020 election cycle in an interview with the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) Action Fund, which is included in the Trump ad.
‘That Ad Was Effective’
While the ad has been running for a couple weeks, it was hard to miss if you were watching the NFL this weekend. Radio host Charlamagne tha God, who was open with Megyn back in May about why he cannot support Trump, praised the spot on The Breakfast Club on Monday.
“That was nuts… I don’t know if it was the backdrop of football, but when you hear the narrator say ‘Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners,’ that one line, I was like, ‘Hell no, I don’t want my taxpayer dollars going to that,'” he said. “That ad was effective… That ad was impactful. It was. I’m not gonna lie.”
Pagliarulo said Charlamagne’s reaction is probably shared by many viewers, particularly men. “He’s right. As a manly man… if I were watching football and that popped up, or watching boxing and that popped up, or watching something that is filled with testosterone and virility, I probably would go, ‘Holy crap, really? That’s what she wants,'” he said. “And the fact is, that is what she wants. That is what she has always wanted.”
Given the Biden-Harris administration’s slow response to Hurricane Helene relief, Megyn said it is but the latest example of where their priorities lie. “So, we are going to fund the sex change operations of serial killers… meanwhile, the Biden administration is saying that we need to dig deep into our pockets to help the victims of Hurricane Helene,” she noted. “Help! Make it make sense.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Joe Pags by tuning in to episode 902 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.