Joe Biden’s campaign unveils new ad blaming Donald Trump for empty sports stadium and churches

Joe Biden’s campaign blasted President Donald Trump for his handling of the coronavirus with a harsh new ad showing empty sports stadium, schools, and churches as ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ plays in the background.

The ad shows how the pandemic has affected Americans in their every day lives and hits at the heart of America with its focus on sports.

The ad features images of empty sports stadiums, an empty classroom, empty pews in a dark church, a long, soaring view of an empty beach, and highways with no cars as an acoustical version of the national anthem plays in the background.

‘Trump put America on the sidelines,’ it reads. ‘Let’s get back in the game.’

Voters give President Trump low marks for his handling of the virus. 

Biden attacked Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic – which has infected more than 5.88 million Americans and caused more than 181,000 deaths – in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last week.

‘Just judge this president on the fact. Five million Americans affected by COVID-19,’ he said. ‘More than 170,000 Americans have died. By far the worst performance of any nation on earth. More than 50 million people have filed for unemployment this year.’

‘Just look around,’ Biden said. ‘It’s not this bad in Canada, or Europe, or Japan, or almost anywhere else in the world. And the president keeps telling us the virus is going to disappear.

‘And after all this time, the president still does not a plan. Well I do,’ Biden said. 

His new campaign ad will see a 30-second version take over the YouTube Masthead and be featured on CBS Sports nationwide on Friday. Additionally, 15-second versions will appear on YouTube, Hulu, Viacom, and other digital platforms, with each version tailored towards specific communities and fanbases in battleground states where team seasons have been canceled — including in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, the campaign said in a statement on Thursday.

The ad drops one day after President Trump gave his acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention on the South Lawn of the White House where no social distancing measures were observed by the 1,500 crowd and few people wore face masks.

He has blamed China for the ‘plague’ he complains hit the United States and, at times, refers to COVID-19 as ‘the China virus,’ a racist term. 

In his remarks on Thursday night, Trump argued Biden would have ‘surrendered’ to the virus instead of fighting it, referring to a comment Biden made in an interview where he said he would shut down the country if scientists recommended it.

‘Instead of following the science, Joe Biden wants to inflict a painful shutdown on the entire country. His shutdown would inflict unthinkable and lasting harm on our nation’s children, families, and citizens of all backgrounds,’ Trump claimed.

‘The cost of the Biden shutdown would be measured in increased drug overdoses, depression, alcohol addiction, suicides, heart attacks, economic devastation and more. Joe Biden’s plan is not a solution to the virus, but rather a surrender,’ he said.

‘We will have a safe and effective vaccine this year, and together we will crush the virus,’ he said. 

Meanwhile, Biden and Trump are hitting the campaign trail, with the president holding a rally in Manchester on Friday.

Biden told supporters he’ll be on the road after Labor Day. And he said, in contrast to Trump, his campaign will be ‘responsible’ about it.

‘I’m going to be going up into Wisconsin, and Minnesota, spending time in Pennsylvania, out in Arizona. But we’re going to do it in a way that is totally consistent with being responsible, unlike what this guy’s doing,’ he told supporters at a fundraiser on Thursday evening.

‘He’s totally irresponsible,’ he continued of Trump. ‘So what we’re working on is how I get out. I’m going to be traveling throughout the country where I can do it consistent with the state rules about how many people can be assembled.’

One of Trump’s biggest attack lines on Biden is that his Democratic rival has been hiding in his basement. Biden has stayed around his Wilmington home but held events with supporters via zoom. 

Trump, in contrast, has employed a ‘Rose Garden strategy’ where he uses White House briefings and events to get his message across.

Biden told his supporters he misses the crowds.  

‘I’m a tactile politician. I really miss being able to, you know, grab hands, shake hands, you can’t do that now. But I can in fact appear beyond virtually, in person, in many of these places,’ he said.

The Democratic nominee said he would not hold ‘irresponsible rallies’ but meet people in communities and local businesses.

The president, meanwhile, heads to New Hampshire on Friday afternoon to hold his first-convention rally at a Manchester airport. He was scheduled to hold an event in Portsmouth last month that the campaign canceled, citing Tropical Storm Fay as the reason for the postponement, despite the fact the storm was not projected to make landfall in the state.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, said the state’s mask mandate for crowds of 100 or more would be in affect and noted he would not be attending the rally although he would be on hand to greet the president at the airport.