Trump reelection team, defending president’s coronavirus efforts, going up with first major TV ad blitz

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Wall Street Journal associate editor John Bussey breaks down the numbers and what they could mean for the presidential election.

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President Trump’s reelection campaign is taking to the TV airwaves starting Sunday as it launches its first major ad blitz of the 2020 general election.

The campaign will spend seven figures to run the spots nationwide for a week, Fox News confirmed on Thursday. The commercials are expected to tout the president’s performance steering the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and his efforts to restart America’s economy.

PANDEMIC POLITICS: BIDEN AND TRUMP CAMPAIGNS, ALLIES, TRADE FIRE OVER CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

The Trump campaign is expected to follow up with a second wave of ads targeting presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. The ad buy was first reported by Politico.

The Trump campaign’s blitz comes as the president has seen his overall job approval ratings and his numbers on how he’s handling the coronavirus crisis edge down in recent weeks — and as the latest national and key battleground state surveys show him trailing Biden in general election matchups.

Pro-Biden super PACs for weeks have been running TV spots in the battleground states that criticize the president for originally downplaying the severity of the outbreak and slamming Trump for his handling of the crisis. Priorities USA – the leading outside group backing Biden – went up with a new commercial this week that charges that “Donald Trump is failing America” over the pandemic.

The ad buy also comes after the Republican National Committee went up with a $1 million ad buy to run digital spots in battleground states praising the president’s performance.

At the same time, the top pro-Trump super PAC is spending $10 million to run TV commercials slamming Biden. The spots by America First Action Super PAC argue that the former vice president is soft on China, where the coronavirus originated.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND ALLIES PUSH TO PAINT BIDEN AS SOFT ON BEIJING

Republican sources tell Fox News that the second round of Trump campaign spots will accentuate the theme that for decades – first as a senator and then as vice president – Biden was cozy with Beijing. The attacks come as public opinion polling shows an increasing percentage of Americans angry at China’s handing of the coronavirus outbreak.

The moves by the Trump campaign and its allies follow efforts by the Biden campaign and the super PAC backing the former vice president to slam Trump for repeatedly praising Beijing’s coronavirus efforts and specifically Chinese President Xi Jinping in January and February.

“Everyone knew they lied about the virus. China. President Trump gave China his trust,” the narrator in a commercial by the pro-Biden outside group American Bridge spotlights.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN AND PRO-BIDEN SUPER PACS SLAM TRUMP FOR PRAISING CHINA

The ad then uses a video clip from Feb. 7 of the president saying of China, “I think they’re doing a very good job.”

American Bridge is spending seven figures to run its ads in battleground states.