Trump Deploys Christmas-Themed Ad in Early Primary States on Iraq Visit

The commercial will air in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina in the final days before voting kicks off

Donald Trump's 2024 campaign is deploying a Christmas-themed ad in early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina centered around a 2018 surprise visit he made while president to Iraq.

The ad, first released Sunday, features Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as press secretary under Trump, describing the former president's visit on Christmas to American troops serving overseas.

"It was Christmas Day. We boarded Air Force One in complete and total darkness. We landed in war-torn western Iraq. No lights on the runway. There were hundreds of troops packed into a dining hall," Sanders, a Republican, said in the ad. "They had absolutely no idea that the president and first lady were about to walk into that room."

Sanders went on to say the room "absolutely erupted" at the sight of the Trumps. She described one soldier yelling at Trump from the back of the room, claiming that the then-president was why he reenlisted.

"That was the kind of patriotism President Trump brought back to our country," Sanders said.