The New York Times - Harris Campaign Uses John Kelly’s Words in Stark New Ads The ads are the latest attempt by Kamala Harris’s campaign to turn the 2024 race into a referendum on Donald Trump. Harris Campaign Uses John Kelly’s Words in Stark New Ads The ads are the latest attempt by Kamala Harris’s campaign to turn the 2024 race into a referendum on Donald Trump.

 The New York Times

Harris Campaign Uses John Kelly’s Words in Stark New Ads

The ads are the latest attempt by Kamala Harris’s campaign to turn the 2024 race into a referendum on Donald Trump.

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Donald Trump, left, and John Kelly, right, walking together on an airport tarmac in 2018. 

John F. Kelly, Donald J. Trump’s chief of staff and former homeland security secretary, in 2018.Credit...Tom Brenner/The New York Times

Shane Goldmacher

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is turning a recording of Donald J. Trump’s former White House chief of staff John F. Kelly, in which he describes the former president as meeting “the general definition of fascist,” into two stark new ads.

The ads are the latest attempt by Ms. Harris, in the final two weeks, to turn the 2024 race into a referendum on Mr. Trump and his fitness for office. Ms. Harris delivered a televised statement at her residence this week after Mr. Kelly’s comments were published, saying they were sounding an alarm to the nation.

The ads, titled “A Warning,” are scheduled to immediately go into the Harris campaign’s rotation of television and digital advertising, a campaign official said, adding that they would be targeted in particular at markets with larger populations of veterans.

And Ms. Harris underscored the message at a CNN town hall on Wednesday when she herself also called Mr. Trump a “fascist.”

Both the 30-second and the 60-second ads begin with a black screen and a pulsating, alarm-like sound as the words, “An unprecedented warning …” are typed onto the screen.

The text then identifies Mr. Kelly, Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff and a four-star Marine general, before cutting to a recording of Mr. Kelly’s recent interview with a reporter for The New York Times, Michael S. Schmidt.

“Do you think he’s a fascist?” Mr. Schmidt asks.

The 30-second version compresses Mr. Kelly’s response: “He certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist: using the military to go after American citizens.”

The 60-second version quotes Mr. Kelly at greater length: “He certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist. It’s a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader. The former president — he is certainly an authoritarian. Using the military to go after American citizens is a very bad thing.”

Both ads also include a clip of Mr. Kelly quoting Mr. Trump as saying, “Hitler did some good things, too.”

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The pulsating alarm sound continues throughout both ads, with the same red text typing at the end: “Donald Trump is unhinged. Unstable. In pursuit of unchecked power.”

Mr. Trump has attacked Mr. Kelly since his public comments, such as in an interview on Fox News on Thursday in Arizona.

“I fired him,” Mr. Trump said, according to a transcript provided by Fox News. “He made a statement that I’m like Hitler. It’s — just couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s just the opposite, actually.”

Shane Goldmacher is a national political correspondent, covering the 2024 campaign and the major developments, trends and forces shaping American politics. He can be reached at shane.goldmacher@nytimes.com. More about Shane Goldmacher