Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), one of the only 2020 Democrats to be left out of the first primary debate, is running ads during the event castigating both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Moulton, who served four combat tours in Iraq while in the U.S. Marine Corps, announced on Tuesday he would run television ads during the debate calling for a “new generation” of leadership. The ads will run in Iowa and New Hampshire on Wednesday, the first night of the two-day debate, and in South Carolina and Nevada on Thursday, according to the Washington Times.
“I’m progressive, I’m practical, and I can beat Donald Trump,” Moulton says in the ad before launching into diatribe on how Trump is not only a “terrible person,” but also a “terrible president”
“At home he’s tried to take away healthcare from millions and his trade wars are bankrupting our farmers and factories,” the congressman says. “Abroad our allies are more worried about America than our enemies. And globally he’s destroyed progress on the defining challenge of our time—climate change.”
Trump, however, is not the only target of Moulton’s rhetoric. Although Moulton never mentions Biden by name, the last portion of his ad directly critiques the Democrat frontrunner.
“Our next president must be be able to bring this country together and win this election because the stakes are too high,” the Massachusetts Democrat says. “It’s time for the generation that fought in Iraq to step in, and it’s time for the generation that sent us there to step aside.”
“It’s time for a new generation of leadership,” Moulton adds.
Of the 25 candidates currently running for the Democrat nomination, Biden is the only one who was serving in Congress at the time of the Iraq War authorization in 2002. Not only did Biden vote in favor, he applauded then-President George W. Bush for having chosen a “course of moderation and deliberation.” Biden would eventually express regret for his support, although it would be couched in criticism that Bush had “unwisely” used his congressional authority.
Even though Biden has renounced his backing of the war, his fellow White House competitors have been keen to highlight the issue on the campaign trail. Moulton, in particular, has been a frequent critic. This month the congressman mocked Biden over his flip-flop on the Hyde Amendment, saying the former vice president should revisit some of his foreign policy stances next.