Words Matter: Immigrant rights advocates release video linking Trump to anti-Asian rhetoric

Donald Trump's stubborn insistence in using racist language in referring to the coronavirus may come back to haunt him.

A progressive pro-immigration group released a preview of an ad targeting Asian American voters in battleground states by highlighting Trump's controversial rhetoric about the pandemic.

Immigrants' List Civic Action, plans to air the ad featuring what the group calls Trump’s “attacks against Asian Americans” digitally and on connected television in battleground states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

The 60-second ad intersperses clips of Trump calling the virus the “Chinese flu,” “Chinese virus” and “kung flu,” along with reports of rises in anti-Asian discrimination, according to an advance copy of the ad shared with The Hill.

“Trump has denigrated people in the Asian American community by the language he has used, and it has effects, and that's why we called [the ad] 'Words Matter,' ” said Immigrants List founder Ira Kurzban told The Hill.

The anti-China rhetoric used by Trump and his senior aides is credited as one of the reason's for the sharp raise in anti-Asian attacks on individuals and groups. Since March, there have been 2,500 such incidents of harassment, bullying and attacks against AAPI, according to groups monitoring the troubling trend. The FBI warned the attacks against Asian Americans are likely to increase as the public continues to associate the pandemic with China.

The targeted states have large numbers of AAPI voters which could affect the election outcome this November.

Trump's campaign issued a statement in response to the ad campaign:

“President Trump is not afraid to call out China, and he also strongly stated that we must protect Asian Americans because they bear no responsibility whatsoever for the Chinese virus,” campaign spokesman Matt Wolking said in a statement. 

“The fault lies with China alone, and when Chinese officials tried to blame American troops for the virus, President Trump fought back against their disinformation campaign by making it very clear where the virus originated.”