Pelosi Eating Ice Cream

"Watch this brilliant ad," the trumpster encouraged The Omnivore. "It's Totally Devastating!! All in HER OWN WORDS!" The Omnivore was playing tabletop roleplaying games online and could not be arsed to listen to the ad.

But now he has. Is it devastating? Is it utterly devastating to  . . . Joe Biden?

The ad opens with a super-grainy image of a Fox News (?) personality talking in solemn tones about the Coronavirus. Not about the 40k dead we now have--no. No. She is talking about those loans the Small Businesses need to get through this!

We see the toll the pandemic is taking:

Look at the symbolism here--the TV set is ancient. It has rabbit ears. Push buttons. In the background we can see classic furniture and cheap wood paneling. This is the TV set of someone who is super at risk for coronavirus.

Is that the point? Hell no. This is supposed to connect to the target audience: the aging boomer for whom this TV set codes as "my TV" (as opposed to the 30 year old who thinks maybe that's a . . . microwave?? And what is that thing on top??). This, for Trump's preferred viewer, is "their TV" as they watch with terrible dismay.

The Payload: Pelosi!
About 15 seconds in we get to the payload. A voiceover from a "money-reporter-guy" says "The Democrats Blocked It" (the relief fund) and we get to see Pelosi talking.

She says "They asked for a quarter of a trillion dollars in 48 hours . . . I don't think so." What is she talking about? Well, she's talking about this--here are some headlines--

Part of the coronavirus plan involves federal money used to help tide small businesses over until the economy can safely restart. In theory, that's a good idea. In practice though?

1. There is no plan to ramp up the testing necessary to safely restart the economy--but who cares? Right? right? alt-right?
2. The original tranche . . . went to big business and ran out in a matter of hours.
3. The Democrats pulled back on the reins for a minute because the first set was a disaster (banks were overloaded, handled their own clients first, etc.)

Of course the ad doesn't go into this--if it did, the administration would certainly not look good--but  that's what it's talking about and people in the small business world? They know it.

The Message

We get the black screen, doom-laden musical note. This is the set up. The punchline is Nancy Pelosi talking about her ice cream stash.

We see food lines with some voice-over

A (probable) Trumper tearfully acknowledges that it's hard to admit they're starving!

Note that the chiron is THE RACE TO RESPECT (HUNGER IN RURAL AMERICA). After all, Pelosi is San Francisco Values. This is a Real(TM) American(TM).

We get a distorted Pelosi gushing about her ice cream and how much she likes chocolate while other Real (TM) or, at least, real-ish Americans make similar statements about how bereft they are in this time of crisis.

We see people praying--maybe at a funeral? And we hear what sounds like a sob morphing into Pelosi's laugh (maybe it's just her laugh, The Omnivore isn't sure).

And, finally, the

stinger: A fake quote by "Nancy Antoinette."

The Message
The message is obvious--but it's a bit convoluted. Small businesses are hurting--and Nancy doesn't care . . . about the laid off workers . . . while she dines on ice cream in her mansion. Now, this doesn't make a lot of sense (the laid off workers are supposed to have gotten fat checks from the government--so much money they are intentionally not working)--but never mind that.

Attack ads don't really have to make sense--they just have to deliver their payload.

Does this?

Tried and True
The Omnivore remembers a UFC fight where the winner said of the loser that he (the winner) would tire his opponent out and when his opponent was flagging, his opponent would resort to what he knew best: wrestling. The winner was ready for it and beat the guy handily.

This is similar (we don't know the outcome). Pelosi has been a conservative boogeyman for ages--using hatred for her to whip up their base into a frenzy of misogyny and homophobia (what is meant by "San Francisco Values"?). This has a long, long history and is nothing new. In fact, we saw this in 2018:

Narrator's Voice: They were ready.

Rating: The Omnivore wants to give this higher than a "C" but is really struggling. The use of Pelosi's tone-deaf ice cream riff is good but for context see:

1. Romney's 47% Tape (A+)
2. Trump suing to stop ads using his own words (B, thanks to lawsuits)
3. The Pelosi-Is-Drunk tape which used artificial methods to make her appear disordered. 

The real problem is that The Omnivore doesn't think anyone blames (A) Pelosi for the virus (B) all the shops for closing (C) the original fund being mismanaged and (D) all the other help and unemployment and everything failing.

It gives her a "bad look"--but the idea that she is withholding help people need--when, in fact, help people need was just passed and bungled is pretty weak as a front-line of attack.

C+