DNC Slams Trump in Mobile Billboard Ad That Aired Same Day as Trump’s Fox News Townhall

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) blasted former President Donald Trump for saying he wanted to see an economic crash through the use of a mobile billboard. The calculated action was timed to coincide with Trump's participation in a Fox News town hall, where he offered his opinions on various topics.

The mobile billboard delivered a strong message to Trump and his followers when it circled the Fox News town hall location on January 10 from 3 p.m. until 11 p.m. EST. The former president was charged by the DNC with putting his political ambition ahead of middle-class families' welfare, per The Messenger. DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika emphasized Trump's selfishness, "It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Donald Trump is rooting for an economic crash for his political gain because his campaign has never been about middle-class families— it’s only ever been about him."

Trump made the contentious remarks on MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's television network, drawing ire from the Biden campaign, many Democrats and Republicans. "When does it crash? I hope it's gonna be during these next 12 months because I don't wanna be Herbert Hoover," Trump was heard saying in a clip of the interview, posted by the Biden-Harris campaign. "The one president, I just don't wanna be Herbert Hoover." The Great Depression, the worst economic slump in American history, began the same year that President Herbert Hoover was sworn in.

The town hall itself, critics claimed, provided Trump with a stage on which to recite well-worn falsehoods and sidestep difficult questions. There was little investigation into the claims made by the former president on the status of the country both during his administration and the present one. Moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum failed to fully confront Trump's attempts to sidestep inquiries concerning his misleading assertions about the 2020 election, his backing for Capitol insurrectionists, and his assertion of legal immunity.

Unlike the GOP debate hosted by CNN where candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis were subjected to challenging questions, Trump appeared to be in a very welcoming atmosphere at the Fox News townhall. The moderators and the audience's questions were classified as mild, which meant that Trump could restate his common lies without any confrontation or cross-questioning.

Trump was asked if he can emphatically state that using political violence is never appropriate. "Of course, that's right," the former president said, before calling Joe Biden "bedlam." Trump also went on to imply that "radical" Democrats condoned the slaughter of newborn babies during a debate over abortion, and hardly anyone in the audience or the moderators disputed him. 

When his legal battles came up, he once more accused them of being politically motivated, even though there was no proof of such. “It’s a witch hunt,” Trump said.