The US political lobby group Evangelicals for Harris has launched a $1 million anti-Trump advertising campaign featuring the late evangelist Billy Graham.
The ad features clips of Donald Trump interspersed with a Billy Graham sermon. In one segment, Graham reads from 2 Timothy 3:1-5: "But you must realize that in the last days the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly self-centred and greedy for money, full of big words." The ad then shows a clip of Trump joking about how he is "greedy, greedy, greedy" and "grabbed all the money I could get".
It also features a clip of Graham speaking of asking God for forgiveness followed by TV footage of Trump saying he didn’t think he’d ever asked God for forgiveness. A caption then appears asking: "Is there any greater denial of Christ, than to say I do not need his forgiveness?"
The late evangelist’s son, Franklin Graham who is a supporter of the former President, heavily criticised a similar previous ad by the group which also used his father’s sermons.
In August Franklin Graham, who is CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association made clear his clear support for the former President on the social media site X:
“The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father Billy Graham’s image. They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President Donals Trump in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
The ad will be broadcast over the next few weeks ahead of November’s presidential election and is targeted at key swing states.
Billy Graham died in 2018 at the age of 99.