Woodstock councilman and World War II veteran Jay Wenk stars in a new political ad targeting President Donald Trump’s policies. Produced by the advocacy group VoteVets, the 30-second ad is one of two that directly address Trump. The organization is running the ads on shows, including MSNBC’s Morning Joe and Fox News’ Fox & Friends, that reportedly are part of Trump’s morning television routine.
“I was a rifleman in Patton’s Third Army. He was tough and he knew how to win,” said Wenk in the ad, which shows a photo of him as a soldier. “Donald Trump says General Patton would be shocked if he were alive today.” Wenk then detailed the accusations of Trump’s involvement with Russia in the influencing of the presidential election.
“I served under General Patton. I saw him up close, and the thing he’d be most shocked by is you,” said Wenk, pointing his finger directly at the camera.
How did Wenk get involved with the VoteVets campaign?
“They sent out an email about two months ago inquiring of veterans if anyone was interested in pursuing a project,” Wenk said. “They didn’t say what it was.”
Wenk responded to the email. He didn’t hear back for quite awhile, but eventually received a response. “It turned out I was exactly who they were looking for,” he said. “They needed somebody who was in Patton’s army.”
VoteVets wanted to fly Wenk down to Washington, D.C., to shoot an ad in front of the World War II Memorial. “I was not feeling particularly well at the time,” ecplained Wenk. “I said I was interested in doing something, but could they come up here?”
They did. VoteVets hired a production company that flew in a crew of four. The ad was shot in Wenk’s living room on Mead’s Mountain Road.
Wenk said he was given lines “that I improved upon.” He wanted to use harsher language than what is allowed on television.
“They tell me it’s gotten several hundred thousand hits on Facebook,” said Wenk. The social-media platform is not something with which he’s really familiar, he added..
Another ad airing in the same time slots features an Afghanistan veteran with a prosthetic leg. If Trump wants to be president, it said, he should act like one.
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