'I gave two legs for this country': New Biden ad features wounded Army sergeant

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign launched a new television and digital advertisement Thursday morning that chastises President Trump for allegedly disparaging members of the U.S. military.

The minute-long ad is titled “Sergeant King.” It features Black veteran Cedric King, an Army master sergeant who lost both his legs after stepping on an explosive while on active duty.

The ad comes weeks after a story in the Atlantic alleged that Trump has referred to American war dead as “losers” and “suckers.” Trump has said he never made those remarks.  

“I gave two legs for this country. I got friends that never came back home,” says King in the ad. “The guys that had their caskets draped with our nation’s colors — those are the real heroes. And you mean to tell me you call them ‘suckers,’ ‘losers’? With all due respect, I think you missed it on this one.”

The new ad will hit the airwaves in Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

After a record-breaking joint fundraising haul with the Democratic National Committee, the Biden campaign ponied up $280 million for fall paid ad reservations. Earlier in September, the Biden campaign announced a $47 million cross-platform ad campaign geared toward members of the military and their families as a segment of its spending. 

According to the campaign, the team spent $65 million last week across broadcast and digital media.

Recent polling by the Military Times shows Biden with a 4-point lead over Trump among active-duty troops. Biden’s son Beau Biden, an Iraq War vet, died of cancer in 2015.

The ad comes hot on the heels of Cindy McCain, widow of the late veteran and 2008 Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, announcing her full-throated endorsement of Biden. Trump and Sen. McCain were often at odds, and the president has continued to criticize the Arizona lawmaker after his death in 2018. 

“My husband John lived by a code: country first. We are Republicans, yes, but Americans foremost. There’s only one candidate in this race who stands up for our values as a nation, and that is @JoeBiden,” Cindy McCain said Wednesday on Twitter. 

King strikes a similar tone in the new ad.

“A public servant is the greatest servant. We need someone in that White House that understands what it means to serve. I know Joe Biden understands the sacrifices that troops make. And that’s the guy that I want leading this country.”

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